From her office in Bayboro Hall, Regional Chancellor Sophia Wisniewska oversees most of the activities on campus.
But Lenny Ross has a better view.
He’s the guy who sits atop the 220-foot construction crane hovering overhead as the fancy Salvador condominium tower goes up across Fifth Avenue S from Residence Hall One.
When he is not lifting and maneuvering heavy material to workers below, Ross has a bird’s-eye view of downtown St. Petersburg to the north and west, Tampa Bay to the east, and the university campus to the south.
Since December, he’s been up there from 9 to 5 on weekdays, sometimes longer and sometimes on weekends.
Lenny Ross, a longtime crane operator, sits atop the machine from 9 to 5 throughout the week with a bird’s-eye view of downtown St. Pete, Tampa Bay and the university campus. The seven-story building will tower over neighboring RHO when it opens in January.
But Ross doesn’t want to talk about it. He declined an interview with the Crow’s Nest.
So it fell to Roddy Howell to describe what it’s like to ride the crane high in the sky.
It’s “like being on an airplane,” said Howell, who as project superintendent for the builder, Kellogg and Kimsey Inc., has been up in the crane himself.
Most of Ross’ career has been in crane operations, said Howell. “He has done this job for so long it is every day for him.”
In recent years, construction cranes have become a fixture in the resurgent city’s downtown skyline. It takes special skills and experience to operate a crane, which can pitch and sway in even calm weather, and there have been few reported mishaps.
An exception came in November, when a crane working on the site of the 18-story Bliss condo tower overlooking Beach Drive punched a hole in the parking garage of a new mid-rise condo building next door.
Some of the people who live near the Bliss construction site have complained about the crane, clutter, noise and bright lights that burn all night long.
There are similar gripes at Residence Hall One.
Residents on the north side of the dormitory can watch – and listen – out their windows as the crane maneuvers overhead and the Salvador slowly climbs skyward across Fifth Avenue S.
And some of them don’t like it.
“It is pretty intimidating,” said David Cortese, 19, a freshman in political science. “I have found my attention drawn to the big, bad crane in the sky.”
Sophomore Antonio Permuy said he sees the crane every day out his third-floor window.
He does not like it looking back.
“I feel an unconscious, rational impulse to close the blinders,” said Permuy, 19, a political science major. “It is irritating to be under constant exposure.”
Since December, a 220-foot construction crane has hovered over the Salvador condominium building site at 199 Dali Blvd. Northside residents of USF St. Petersburg’s Resident Hall One have had a clear view of the enormous –and loud– machinery from their dormitory windows.
Other irritants, he said, are the early morning noise and blocked-off sidewalks – complaints shared by some of his neighbors.
A short walk to the Publix a few blocks north has become an obstacle course for Ali Luft, 19, a junior in marketing.
“Instead of having to cross the street just once … I now have to cross three times,” said Luft. “If the sidewalks weren’t blocked off, the construction wouldn’t bother me at all.”
Cailah Mack, 23, a senior in business management who lives on the fifth floor, said the noise bothers her more than the crane.
The noise, she said, has become an early alarm clock. Early in the semester, she was sometimes awakened at 3 a.m. by yelling, flood lights and cement trucks, she said, and earplugs don’t help.
“In all honesty, I don’t mind the site there,” Luft said. “Just wish some days could be quieter.”
When it opens in January, the 17-story Salvador will tower over RHO, which has seven stories.
On its website, the Salvador’s marketers promise “artful and innovative living” in 74 “urban luxury condos” that range in price from $355,000 to $2.5 million.
Eighty percent of the units are already sold.
The tower’s name is a nod to the late artist Salvador Dali, whose work is showcased in a nationally renowned museum a couple of blocks to the east. Residential features will include art touches and design inspired by the artist.
Ross the crane operator won’t be around to admire the final touches, however. His role in the project should be over by August, Howell said.
That’s when the crane will come down and Ross will move on to the next job.
Information from the Tampa Bay Times was used in this report.
