August 30, 2021 at 01:34PM

via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/CTNQPeVrsg7/ "Decapitated" #UrbanAllegory #WhatsYourProfound? "[Tampa] area commuters [have lost] a landmark. Nashville-based HCA Healthcare has purchased the Seminole Heights Baptist Church’s 3.5-acre campus. That includes the 50,000-square-foot brick structure with the white steeple rising above I-275 near the E. Hillsborough Avenue exit. They plan on building a free-standing emergency room for their Memorial Hospital of Tampa on the site, HCA spokesperson Debra McKell said in an email. Also on that property is the City Fire Department Engine Company No. 7 building, which was erected in 1924 and later incorporated into the church campus. McKell said that structure will remain where it is. Residents asked the city’s Historic Preservation Commission at a public meeting that month to label the church building a local historic landmark. That would have saved it from demolition. Such designation typically comes at the request of the property owner — it is rare that the city forces it upon an owner. If the commission thought the church building met the historic landmark criteria, it would have then been up to Tampa City Council whether it received the designation. Church leaders argued that the building was not historic, they could no longer afford its upkeep, and the property was worth more if the structure was demolished. The preservation commission ruled in favor of the church." - Tampa Bay Times A piece of the church isn't in the scrap heap just yet, though, "—the iconic steeple—has officially found a new home just down the street near Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe."On [August 6th, 2021], Ella’s owner Melissa Deming, flanked by a handful of onlookers, absorbed the humidity and watched as the steeple was laid down flat and loaded onto a flatbed before being hauled less than half-a-mile to a parking lot she owns.When the steeple—which is 43-feet tall and 55,000 lbs.—gets to Demings’ parking lot, it’ll sit there for at least six months. Demings told CL she’ll start looking for artists to recreate a new version of the steeple’s base, which could not be saved. Until then, it's unknown exactly where the steeple will end up, but wouldn't it be cool if it ended up at Ella's itsel