Shipyards deal could be approved tonight

[Captain Obvious]

St. Joe, Haskell, the Villa Riva developer, no-one else was given a chance at this.  Ed Burr must have a pic of somebody doing something obscene with farm animals. 

Come on, anyone can see this is a sweetheart deal if there ever was one.  Make them an attractive offer, but don

[120North]

The grumblings are - when the deal with TriLegacy was going bad, they had a meeting at City Hall that nearly broke into a fist fight. Ed Burr stepped in and tried to settle it all down. Apparently his a good friend of the Spences, and he also was trying to close a deal with Trilegacy (functioning for the JCC) at Cecil Commerce center. After he got things cooled down a bit, the mayor asked his opinion as to what could be done. He suggested that another developer be given a shot at developing the property for the city. The mayor asked him to do it. And thats supposedly how LandMar got involved.

I really don't think that any one else would have touched it. I also don't think that anyone else could have gotten this thing going in a positive direction so quickly. Other developers will get their shot at it. I have a feeling that LandMar is going to end up subdividing this property and letting others in on the private side of the development.

The cost of public improvements for the entire site is around $36,000,000. Of this, I believe the city is splitting this cost with LandMar. LandMar is investing (it appears) about $18,000,000. Believe me, the improvements on this site are far from complete. You had about 1900 LF of bulkhead built by Trilegay, with about 400 LF of that not even finished. There is a total of about 5300 LF of bulkhead on the entire project. On the other side of Hogan's creek you've got bulkheads dating back to the 1940's that are in excess of 40 feet in depth. One section was reportedly one of the tallest bulkheads on the Saint Johns River with a total height of 55 feet. You've got 20 feet of what is believed to be contaminated silt in the entire basin. This facility was a shipyard. The place was beat down for 40 straight years. This place needs some work before it is safe for public consumption. They are entering the design phase now. Design should be done in about 18 months. This is design of the pbulic improvements only. I am not sure about their private development.

I agree that the pier is a bit over the top in the rendering, but the RFP for the final design of the public improvements is on the street right now and I heard that there are expecting double digits in the number of responsdents. So I would expect some significant improvement over whatever that thing is.

[vicupstate]

And yet no developers seem to be complaining. Considering some of the citizen outrage, you would think all these screwed developers would be screaming to the press about how they wanted to develop the site. How they would have paid tons of money for the site. How they would have given the taxpayers a better deal.

Have they? Has anyone else shown interest? Has any reputable developer claimed that they could have given the city a better deal? That's not a rhetorical question. You could shut me up really fast if there were a bigtime developer who had a serious proposal that was better than Landmar's.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A reputable (or an unreputable one for that matter) developer was never given a chance. With the SB, the city had a chance to showcase this property to a very wide audience. Why was that opportunity not taken?

The number of local developers that could bid this project is not long. I'm sure they all know each other, go to the same golf courses, etc. I would expect they maintain civil relations with each other. They are not going to jeopardize their chance for other work with the city, or their relationships with each other by making a big stink in the paper. The Chamber of Commerce types avoid that kind of thing like the plague, they just chalk it up as another insider deal, and hope next time it is there turn on the inside.

Besides by the time it became common knowledge that Landmar was getting $232 million on this deal, it was mere days before being approved by city council.

Developers from across the country were never even aware of the situation because it was never bid.

Let's not forget that LandMar also was wanting to restrict use of the Riverwalk by the public and expected the city to supply 4,000 parking spaces for free, when this deal first came out. If they had stood there ground on that point, do you think they would have settled for the Trolley lots spaces? I doubt it, they would insist on spaces in nearby or probably on-site garages.

[vicupstate]

The grumblings are - when the deal with TriLegacy was going bad, they had a meeting at City Hall that nearly broke into a fist fight.  Ed Burr stepped in and tried to settle it all down.  Apparently his a good friend of the Spences, and he also was trying to close a deal with Trilegacy (functioning for the JCC) at Cecil Commerce center.  After he got things cooled down a bit, the mayor asked his opinion as to what could be done.  He suggested that another developer be given a shot at developing the property for the city.  The mayor asked him to do it.  And thats supposedly how LandMar got involved. 

I really don't think that any one else would have touched it.  I also don't think that anyone else could have gotten this thing going in a positive direction so quickly.  Other developers will get their shot at it.  I have a feeling that LandMar is going to end up subdividing this property and letting others in on the private side of the development.

The cost of public improvements for the entire site is around $36,000,000.  Of this, I believe the city is splitting this cost with LandMar.  LandMar is investing (it appears) about $18,000,000.  Believe me, the improvements on this site are far from complete.  You had about 1900 LF of bulkhead built by Trilegay, with about 400 LF of that not even finished.  There is a total of about 5300 LF of bulkhead on the entire project.  On the other side of Hogan's creek you've got bulkheads dating back to the 1940's that are in excess of 40 feet in depth.  One section was reportedly one of the tallest bulkheads on the Saint Johns River with a total height of 55 feet.  You've got 20 feet of what is believed to be contaminated silt in the entire basin.  This facility was a shipyard.  The place was beat down for 40 straight years.  This place needs some work before it is safe for public consumption.  They are entering the design phase now.  Design should be done in about 18 months.  This is design of the pbulic improvements only.  I am not sure about their private development.

I agree that the pier is a bit over the top in the rendering, but the RFP for the final design of the public improvements is on the street right now and I heard that there are expecting double digits in the number of responsdents.  So I would expect some significant improvement over whatever that thing is.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The city has or soon will have spent $37.5 million toward the public improvements. All that money may not have been SPENT on public improvements, but that is what the city has shelled out.

I asked a question weeks ago: When this is all said and done, how much money will LandMar have in this deal, that has not been reimbursed by the City? Either no one is saying or the answer is Zero. If LandMar is putting serious money at risk here, I would love to know it. I would feel a lot better about this deal.

Is it too much to ask that the T-U or the Business Journal or SOMEBODY, actually show a timeline with what the city has spent, what the city will spend, what LandMar will spend, what they will be reimbursed for, what work will be completed when? Some charts or graphs would be nice. Can we see the ENTIRE auditor's report? Why must every thing always seem to be so secretive and back-room dealed. If this truly is a good deal, or the best available deal for the taxpayers, that would be reflected.

As it is, it seems these big businessmen (whether it's Tony Sleiman, Wayne Weaver, Ed Barr, whoever) try to sqeeze every possible penny from the city (read: taxpayer's) and the outfoxed city negotiators just cave in.

Believe me, if that not the real situation, that would be a huge relief.

[RiversideGator]

Vic: I would personally give Ed Burr $1000 if he would drop that awful pier and guarantee no stucco.