Losing good soil: the Rowdies soccer stadium vote
January 13, 2009 at 12:10 pm by Wayne GarciaUPDATE: The developer withdrew the zoning request when it became clear that county commissioners weren’t amenable. (So much for my prognostication.)
By the time you read this it will probably be a done deal. Especially with the editorial support of the St. Pete Times today (“Stadium would be a real kick”), which seems to think that a $17 million minor league soccer stadium is the shit! (If so, how come MAJOR league soccer didn’t make it here??)
The real loss, however, in the case of the Rowdies Waters Avenue soccer stadium is the soil. Rich, fertile soil that will serve as little more than fill for the concrete stands and something to grow a soccer pitch on. Because lost in the story of a neighborhood vs. the noise and commotion from a new stadium is Bern Laxer’s organic veggie farm.
If you ever visited Bern’s in the old days, you know the drill about the veggies:
After ordering your red, beautiful meat and leafing through the telephone-book-size wine list, your server would inform you that your meal would come with vegetables grown by Bern himself — in Tampa!! You sat there wondering, There’s a farm in Tampa? Then you got drunk, ate too much New York Strip and piddled the rest of the night away in the dessert room, drinking expensive cognac.
Laxer, who died at the age of 78 in 2002, worked 11 acres of soil just south of Waters Avenue into a beautiful little farm. It was a training ground for new wait staff; they had to work there for a period of time before they could serve food in the iconic S. Howard Avenue restaurant.
But his children, who continue to run the restaurant, didn’t want to continue to be in the farming business. In recent years, the land had been used by local co-op farmers. The soil, one person told me, is the best he has ever seen, clearly worked and lovingly tended over the years.
His son, David, is a partner in the new soccer stadium deal:
As proposed, the stadium could be expanded to nearly 10,000 seats later and would include a store, team museum, luxury boxes and covered club seats. The 15.3-acre site is owned by restaurateur David Laxer, whose father, Bern Laxer, grew vegetables there for his famous South Tampa steakhouse.
Nestor, Laxer and co-owner Hinds Howard plan to finance the $17-million project privately.
“We’re not asking for any money,” Nestor said.
Putting aside the neighborhood concerns and my complete disinterest in minor league soccer (I don’t hate the sport; in fact, I spent many wonderful afternoons in high school going to Fort Lauderdale Striker games). The saddest thing, for me, is that here is a wonderful, workable farm and — just at a time when were are trying more and more to buy local, to bring food production closer to home and make it greener — we’ve probably lost the chance to save it.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
I’m sure David Laxer would sell the farm to you. Do you have you’re check book handy?
January 13th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
>(If so, how come MAJOR league soccer didn’t make it here??)
Because the Mutiny were locked into an unfavorable lease at Raymond James Stadium.
The rumor at the time was that none other than George Steinbrenner kicked the tires on the Mutiny (http://images.si.com/soccer/us/news/2001/12/23/mls_rdp/), took a look at the stadium lease and decided there was no way to make it work.
I can’t speak to stadiums at the USL-1 level, but MLS teams that have built stadium have immediately swung to profitability. Montreal (a USL-1 side) has its own stadium now, but I don’t know their profit/loss (although Montreal is a bit tricky because the Impact is set up as a non-profit).
March 26th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Yeah nothing says organic like tomatoes grown right next to a major highway. Sorry, but I have no sympathy for your useless nostalgia. That place isn’t going to remain a farm forever, and a soccer stadium is a far better thing to put on a farm than an industrial park, which is what will be built there otherwise, based on the neighborhood around it.
And ashcan this “I have nothing against soccer” malarky already; that’s what everyone says after, or just before, they bash soccer. Give it a rest, you aren’t fooling anyone.
Also the poster above is correct; the Glazers were absolutely raping the Mutiny for stadium rent. No way to make money. The Rowdies drew huge crowds back in the day and there’s no reason why they can’t attract suitably modest crowds as a minor league USL team; and look at the Pacific Northwest: three USL teams moving up to MLS. Don’t dis USL.
Besides we already have a nickname for the new stadium if it ever gets built on this site: the Tomato Patch. That name might live on long after everyone has forgotten about your precious tomato picking youth. Let it go; you won’t get a better memorial from any other suitor.