The space between the long-abandoned 1907 pumping station and the red-brick building that once housed the Tampa Armature Works will become the heart and soul of the new Seventh Avenue riverfront.TAMPA - Plans to develop a 48-acre swath of historic riverfront north of downtown have been in the works for years, so longtime Tampa Heights residents Melisa and Yves Conze arrived early for the recent open house for updates on the planned development of restaurants, shops and more.

"We've been waiting a while. Things have gotten postponed and delayed," Yves Conze said after a tour of the former Tampa Armature Works building and short cruise past the 48-acre project called simply The Heights.

"If you look at the size and scope of this project, you can't help but be excited," he said.

"To have it so close to home will be fantastic," Melisa Conze said of the promise of restaurants, coffee stalls, delis and unique retail shops within walking distance of the West Ross Avenue house the couple bought seven years ago.

Ground was broken Dec. 5 for the $500 million mixed-use development.

Development Manager Darren Booth announced at the Aug. 18 open house the "first little cafe" of eight to 12 tables could be operational by late fall "to breathe some life back into" the long-vacant site.

That drawing card for the site initially would serve lunch, one day a week, later expanding to weekends, he said. Hopefully more cafes will open in January and February, he said, depending on the city's permitting process.

During the next two to five years, more restaurants will be built at a higher elevation, overlooking the outdoor cafes.

Following restoration of the riverbank, a canoe/kayak launching area will be added, Booth said. Also anticipated are boat slips, plus a river walk stretching 600 feet from North Boulevard to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

The development agreement between A Better Place Group and the city council approved in July 2006 includes improvements to Waterworks Park, 1710 N. Highland Ave. The city site includes a natural spring and a long-abandoned pumping station structure built in 1907.

The Beck Group is nearing completion of a two-story 30,000-square-foot building at North Highland and Seventh avenues that will open in January, providing a regional headquarters for the architectural, construction and development company. The building also is among three possible locations for the future home of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

Future phases of the project include a four-story, 125-room hotel, 56,000 square feet of office space and, eventually, 1,900 condominiums and town homes. "It could be 10 years before the condo tower goes in," Booth said.

The century-old massive red-brick building that housed the armature works will be preserved and pressed into service.

Booth envisions careful conversion of the 70,000-square-foot, high-ceilinged structure, creating something similar to the famed Pike Place Market in Seattle, just south of where Booth grew up.

"You don't want to lose that," he said of the original look. "You want to lovingly restore that; caring for the old stuff and, at the same time, improving it a little bit."

"I see a mix of shops spilling out onto this public place," said Booth, calling attention to the building's large skylights, providing sufficient illumination even on a cloudy day. The massive door of the high-ceilinged structure - built as the Tampa Electric Street and Railway Co. trolley barn - might be opened during mild weather, providing a break from air-conditioning, he said.

For now, Booth works behind a heavy copper door in a space that once housed the armature works' office and conference room and, before that, served the trolley company yardmaster. Not far from the abutting three-sided protruding observation window overlooking the long-gone trolley yard is the safe where passenger fares were stored overnight.

In the early 1800s, Tampa Heights was home to business owners, lawyers and civic leaders. A century later, drugs and crime plagued the neighborhood, and civic activists and city officials began an effort to reverse the neglect, encouraging restoration of historical structures.

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 259-7124