Apartments Could Fill Void on Dunedin Causeway

An apartment complex that could bring steadier income for causeway merchants is on hold for now.

The local planning board looked at plans and asked developers to find a better balance between landscaping, parking and stormwater retention at its meeting on Dec. 14.

“This could be a very exciting project out on the causeway,” Gayl Scrutton, local planner, said.

“It could raise our population some. … A large part are only here in the winter,” Greg Rice, planning and development director, told the Local Planning Agency on Dec. 14. “We’ve heard from merchants out there; they really struggle in the winter months.”

Arcadia Luxury Apartments, a five-story, 26-unit, Key West-style complex at 265 Causeway Boulevard, was a planned condominium project two years ago.

Owner Gus Dames had full approval from the city to build luxury condominiums on his vacant one-acre lot, once the site of the Louisiana Seafood Co., but the real estate market burst his bubble.

It's a detail residents and local planners, still sour from unfinished projects throughout the community (including the half-completed nearby), did not overlook.

The proposed apartments would be built in front of an eight-to-nine story condominium building (Marina Tower). Rent for the 1,600-square-foot units is set for a higher-income clientele at $1,500 to $1,800 per month, and 56 parking spaces would go underneath and behind the building, developer Vince Iannucci, of LT Construction of Tampa Bay, said.

Construction would take eight to nine months, he said.

Commissioner Julie Scales calmed residents fears of it becoming just another unfinished project at the developers’ presentation to residents on Dec. 10.

She said city codes have since been amended so that some sort of development must be taking place to prevent permits from expiring.

Local planners, however, saw flaws in the plan on Dec. 14. They sent it back for developers to fix inadequate parking and stormwater retention, inaccurate and inconsistent measurements and to pay more attention to landscaping.

"It can be done; they just need to spend some time and money," Adam Smith, local planner, said.

The plan returns to the Local Planning Agency with recommended changes on Jan. 11.