PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 If you\u2019re riding down 49th Street and 62nd Avenue in Pinellas County, there\u2019s a chance you\u2019ve spotted the distinctive white building for a local plumbing company. What stands out most is the company\u2019s phone number in big, bold letters: 727-800-POOP.<\/p>\n
The business has been sitting vacant for nearly six years, leaving many wondering if they\u2019re even open.<\/p>\n
The owners said not only are they open for business, they\u2019re hoping to one day work from this office. They say they had every intention of opening their doors at the location, but the process is clogged with issue after issue.<\/p>\n
They have to figure out an impossible parking situation because of an easement along 62nd Avenue, and then there\u2019s water and sewage problems \u2014 all things, the owners say, they\u2019re trying to resolve, but it\u2019s draining their bank account. \u00a0<\/p>\n
If Daniel Ritchie stands in front of the business long enough, in front of their eye-catching business and phone number, he can almost hear their money going down the drain. He detailed how much they\u2019ve invested in the property so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s roughly around $740,000. But we still pay property tax on it,\u201d Ritchie said.<\/p>\n
Taxes, fixes and permits were all part of their plan when Ritchie, his father Wayne Ritchie\u00a0and their business partner, Brian Higueros, first purchased the abandoned building almost six years ago. They renovated every inch inside and did as much as they could outside. It\u2019s process, they say, they thoroughly researched. They even reached out to the county before buying the place to verify they could open their growing plumbing business at that location.<\/p>\n
\u201cSix years ago tomorrow is when we wrote to the county. We saw the building, we wrote to them saying, \u2018Hey, we would like to buy the place, but before we do, we\u2019d like to know if there\u2019s any issues of us moving into this place,\u2019 and they wrote back saying no,\u201d Wayne Ritchie\u00a0said. \u201cWe were told that we had no issues until after we bought the building. And once we own it, we own it and we\u2019re like up poop\u2019s creek without a paddle, you could say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wayne Ritchie\u00a0said he\u2019s tried to keep a positive attitude when considering what\u2019s blocking them from opening their doors here.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we began the process and they even gave us a permit to put a septic system in, then all of a sudden, they found out there was a right of way along this side of the road that took away the opportunity to install a septic system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the county pointed to some old records for the property from 1927 that detail the easement on the property. Wayne Ritchie\u00a0said they also found some old pictures inside the property showing how it used to be a propane gas company, the layout of the business and the parking options. But now, they say the county is asking for costly updates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to bring the whole site up to code. The building\u2019s been sitting for 25 years, so bringing it up to code from 25 years ago to now, because of the size of the property, is just not feasible for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Spectrum Bay News 9 reached out to county officials to go over the permits, requirements and options for the property, but were told no one was available to go on camera. County officials did send over this statement:<\/p>\n
\u201cStaff is working with the applicant\u2019s engineer to address the outstanding site engineering issues to facilitate the issuance of a building permit and the ability to operate a business on this property.\u201d<\/p>\n
The owners say they just want to flush out other options that will either save their business here or allow them to sell it to the county.<\/p>\n
Higueros said that there has been some good that comes from the building. People do call the number, so it has acted as a really expensive billboard. But the owners are still holding out hope \u2014 even with this backup in permits and requirements.<\/p>\n