The city of Clearwater is cleaning up the East Gateway District, a project that began five years ago.  Plans are also in the works for the next five years of the project.

The area extends from Missouri Ave on the west to Highland on the east and is bordered by Drew on the north side and Court St. on the south end.

Donald Garber has lived in East Gateway for 25 years and remembers a time when every lawn was perfectly manicured. He is excited about the efforts the city has put in to restoring the neighborhood into what it once was.

"The police department’s working good with us to clean up the prostitutes and they got these two motels tore down that were trouble," Garber said.

Geri Lopez, director of economic development for Clearwater, said the city purchased the former Economy Inn Motel and demolished it as part of the plan to revitalize the neighborhood. She said the impact was immediate.

"That was a source of a lot of crime that is now no longer there," she said.

Other improvements include the development of the Country Club townhomes.  Five of 31 planned units have been built and are waiting to be sold.

"We’ve had about 300 folks that have come by and taken a look at it," said Mike Jansen, a realtor representing the property. "For us, the most difficult thing so far has been to find people that qualify from an income perspective and number of people living in the units."

The hope is that qualified buyers will buy the townhomes, bringing more permanent residents to an area dominated by renters.

"This is an affordable housing complex that we’re building so it is meant and targeted for the workforce,” Lopez said.

Lopez said they have worked with residents in the area to create a vision of what they want East Gateway to be.

Community policing has been a welcome change for homeowners like Garber. As part of the neighborhood watch, he is glad there are plans to continue it.

Businesses have also embraced the changes. Nature’s Food Patch recently invested more than $700,000 dollars to expand the store. Greek Town Grill, a popular new restaurant, was a $1.6-million investment in the district.

"So far they’ve done real good," Garber said. "I don’t want to push them because they are really trying hard."

Over the next five years Lopez said they will continue a façade program to improve the look of East Gateway.  They will also pour sidewalks along streets that currently don’t have them and continue to add options for homeownership.