As the Board is aware, several parcels of property have been purchased through the CRA over the last few years.  The purpose of the purchases was to promote economic development reasons and as supported by the City’s Community Redevelopment Plan.  For purposes of your scheduled discussion on Tuesday, December 19, 2023, I would like to focus on the properties for which I have provided an attachment to this communication of which there are three.

The first attachment depicts an area which has been assembled in relationship to the former River Road Church property and involves the former SunTrust/Truist property and additionally the former Cigar Warehouse which was situated at 5332 Acorn Street. Currently there are two buildings footprinted on the site and collectively the assembled property is 4.81 acres in size. In my opinion to fully engage the opportunity to redevelop this site it is valuable to establish a means of ingress/egress from Main Street.

The reason that this is important is in respect to the presence of a third point of ingress/egress onto the assemblage as well as a prospect to introduce some retail business on the street frontage. In that regard, discussions are ongoing with owners of property with Main Street frontage that are located within the project boundaries and that have indicated an interest in selling their property.  The discussions are going well, and I expect to be able to advance a recommendation to you in the coming weeks.

Incidentally, as you may recall the City applied for a grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection under the resilient Florida Program and we were awarded a grant in the amount of $1,600,000 to establish an inundation pond.

In respect to this specific property, I recommend that a Request for Proposal (RFP)be let for a residential project after land control has been attained for one of the appropriate Main Street properties. The RFP should contain general specifications related to the development of the property. i.e.- cash sale for property, limitation on the type of residential structures fronting River Road, inclusion of a retail and residential component and parking requirements.  Additionally, I recommend that the members of the Community Redevelopment Agency review, provide comments and approve the final version of the RFP document before it is released.

The second attachment relates to the building formerly owned by Pasco County located on the southeast corner of Main and Bank Streets. The Department of Health, who was the last remaining tenant, has vacated their tenancy and therefore the building is currently unoccupied. The building, which is 14,397 sq. ft. in size, is in relatively fair condition, however it would require a considerable number of updates prior to any productive reuse.

Since the CRA gained ownership of the building I have fielded several inquiries from companies interested in renovating the space for residential use. However, I do not feel confident that residential use would constitute the highest and best use of the building. The building, which is located in a prominent location in the city’s downtown area, seems to command much more of a commercial presence, meaning that it should be used to support a commercial activity.

Relating to this property, my recommendation is twofold.  First, I believe that it would be appropriate to have an appraisal conducted so that a current value is established for the building. Secondly, after receiving an appraisal an RFP which establishes a minimum asking price for the building should be released to test market interest. After having been received, the results of the RFP will be submitted to the CRA for review and deliberation.

The third attachment is a representation of the former Schwettman Education property. After much consideration, in relationship to the fact that the building is currently unoccupied and the related on-going maintenance costs associated with the property, I think that the property should be offered for sale and reuse in the short term. Although, there has been interest expressed by several not-for-profit organizations in playing an active role in the future of the property from what I know at this point of their intent there appears to be a limited amount of economic development associated with their interest.

From that perspective, if you determine that the property should be dedicated to support those that have advanced their interest to date the project would be more appropriately supported through use of general fund dollars. As you know though, unfortunately, the City’s general fund is rather constricted currently. Therefore, if you in fact determine that a project should be financed relying on the general fund it would require that a ballot issue be advanced thereby allowing the voters of the city to determine whether to support the expenditure of funds or not.

Otherwise, I would suggest that an RFP be established related to the disposition of the property. The timing of the release of the RFP should be during the first quarter of 2024. The reason that I think a RFP should be developed and released is to ascertain the type of interest that may exist on the part of private investors.

As a condition of sale interested parties would be required to the terms and conditions as agreed to in the purchase agreement with the school district. Additionally, I would recommend that the RFP specifically prohibit the reuse of the building for residential purposes. The reason I make this suggestion is because I believe that the building needs to serve a community purpose that can be justified as a positive movement in respect to economic development. Lastly, I would like to advance a requirement that a historical element be programmed into the design and use of the building.