That was the question I got yesterday when meeting with a seller about a listing in an area outside of Seminole Heights.  I was discussing with the future customer suggestions for getting the property ready for market.  In the course of talking I explained that the bulk of my business was in the Seminole Heights area.  He is actually doing work for another customer of mine on a house about a block from my home. So he is in the neighborhood with some frequency.   That is why his question was a bit of a surprise. "Is that area getting better?"

What do you say without getting all caught-up in the changes and rattling them off in list form?  In an area undergoing a renaissance or gentrification old perceptions seem to last long after they are no longer accurate.  It has been nearly 25 years since I first wandered into this community and about 16 since my first bungalow.  At the time service people would come to the house and comment in surprise about the wood floors and high base boards and other original 1920's craftsman era details and tell me my home belonged in Hyde Park (Tampa's first neighborhood to undergo gentrification).  I loved the compliments and in time learn to proudly respond that "no, it actually belongs right here in Seminole Heights."  But that was a dozen or more years ago.

So to the question of "Is that area getting better?"Yes it is and it has been doing so for 20 years!  The Old Seminole heights Neighborhood Association (not it's original name) will be 20 years old next year.  The South Seminole Heights Civic association was created about the same time and had to be resurrected a few times in the years that followed.  Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association is only about a year younger. These neighborhood driven groups have been doing on a community level what hundreds of have done to their vintage homes (whether Craftsman bungalows, Mediterranean Revival, or some other style)...brought them back to life!

Unfortunately, many on the outside don't see the change.  They drive down our still underwhelming commercial roadways and see the familiar auto related businesses and the old hotels/motels from the pre-interstate days.  Driving by at 45 or 50 mph they never see the businesses that have moved in over the past 25 years. Do they even notice changes to existing businesses?  Do they ever turn off the commercial roads in their race to suburbia to see the renovations, to see the unique yards, to discover the popular riverfront parks?

I know this is certainly not common to our neighborhood, I am sure that there are many of you out there that could tell similiar tales from your communities.  What are your experiences? How long has your neighborhood being going through its renaissance?

So..."Is that area getting better?"  Yes and I am wanting to use this blog to spotlight some of our neighborhood gems over the next weeks or months.