Ybor City Growth Sign Of The Times, Business Owner Says

TAMPA, FL — Ybor City’s appeal extends beyond the shops, restaurants and bars that line the main Seventh Avenue drag. As more entrepreneurs recognize this, Bob Burmaster says the historic neighborhood’s potential for growth and transformation is significant.

Burmaster’s belief in Ybor City’s potential is so strong, he recently renovated an old 10th Avenue building to serve as the home base for Image360 Tampa-Ybor City. The May opening of Burmaster’s graphic design and sign business not only contributes to Ybor City’s ongoing business revitalization, it represents the next step in Burmaster’s own transformation, he says.

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Burmaster entered graphic design in an unconventional way. The former Army lieutenant colonel served the country for 22 years, retiring in 2015 after a special operations assignment in Tampa. It was during his years of special operations deployments he first tapped into his creative side.

“It started off as kind of a hobby,” Burmaster explained.

In between deployments, Burmaster would pick up a camera and begin shooting pictures to relax. Those images soon became included collages, posters and other designs. Before long, people were requesting his work and a freelance business was born. Burmaster continued to develop the business concept in the years before retiring, not wanting to be caught “flatfooted.”

After his official retirement from the Army, Burmaster put his master’s in business administration degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology to use. He opened The Graphics Edge to drive his creative side and feed his passion for working with people. In May, the company was rebranded to become Image360.

The building Burmaster chose for his new adventure is located in Ybor City’s fringes along 10th Avenue. To serve the business, Burmaster took on a complete renovation of the space, and added a customer service center and conference room.

While Burmaster admits his new career is very different from the high-stress world of special operations, it’s a change he welcomes. It’s also one that benefits from his years in the military where he learned to interact “with so many different cultures and learned how to work with a lot of different people and nationalities,” he said.

Burmaster is hoping his own story will inspire other entrepreneurs to give Ybor City a closer look.

“Ybor City is on the cusp of significant growth,” he said. “Downtown Tampa is tapped out, and I can see a lot of potential for new business growth in the region.”

By setting up in Ybor City early in that projected growth curve, Burmaster said he’s positioned to take advantage of what is yet to come while serving businesses in the surrounding area.

“I have connected with many, many local business owners that want to brand their businesses in the right way in Ybor City, and want to create an image and awareness for their companies that will be memorable,” Burmaster said. “Ybor City is becoming a hub for businesses and I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of it.”

Image360 Tampa-Ybor City is located at 3617-A E. 10th Ave. The company specializes in graphic design, signs and boat and vehicle wraps. For more information about the business, visit Image360 online.

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Photos courtesy of Image360