Temple Terrace, Vlass Group agree on downtown redevelopment - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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Mayor Joe Affronti cast the tiebreaking vote to approve a deal with to convet nearly 29 acres of land on the southeast side of the Bullarxd Parkway and North 56th Street intersectiobn in Temple Terrace where Vlass wants to builda pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use downtown. “The vote we did was certainly for the best interest ofour city, not only now but in the long Affronti said. “We want to be able to look back 15 yearswfrom now, or even 10 yeards from now, and be proud of what we did.
We want to be able to see that the city has developer this land into a beautifupl area and that the place has a tremendouas demand from people to be a part of But not all of the governing body is happy with the CouncilmanRon Govin, who spent most of his first term as a liaison betweenh the council and developers, said the deal cost Temples Terrace at least the $20 milliobn that it originally paid for the land it was now handinf over. “We left a lot of or potential money, on the table,” Govin “I love the plan, and I love the prospect of finallyt moving on the project because Ithink that’s But I could not vote for it.
I did not feel that it was the best use ofour Govin’s idea was to sit on the land a littl longer and wait for an opportunity to sell it for a retur on investment. “The assumption of the rest of the councilo who voted for it was that it was the only opportunit that would come along and that nobodh would pay us anything forthe property.” But with the city stillo paying down debt it acquired in purchasing the the mayor said it had to move forwars or possibly face startint from square one. “The city is much betterf off financiallydoing this,” Affront said.
“Maybe not initially, but in the Our city is going to be much betterr off with what we did yesterday than if we had held off and triecd to sell it when the marketwas right.” By selling to Vlass, the city can stilol have a strong presence in what is developerd on the site where two agin g strip malls sit, instead of leaving it up to whateved entity fronted the cash to buy the land down the “I don’t think doing that is accomplishing the vision our citizensw have had for all these years,” Affrontu said. “They wanted downtown development, and that’s what we’re goingg to give them.
” The closing of the propertyg is expected to take place said Temple Terrace spokesmanMichael Dunn. even with such a deal in it could still be some time before any noticeabled work begins onthe site. “They still have two or threse years before they even have tobreak ground,” Dunn said. “Theres is still a lot of work to do, but this cleares the way for them to at leasgtget started.
” Temple Terrace purchased the more than 30 acres that stretches from where Busch Boulevard becomes Bullard Parkway almost completely to the Hillsborough River beginning in the early 2000sa to help turn around a central piece of propert it said was pullingy down neighboring property values and creating blight. Over the city council developed plans to create a NewUrbann mixed-use project that would include office space and condominiums. Threse developers had been attached tothe project, of Orlando in 2005 and then a partnershio between and the former of Temple Terrace in 2006. Ram/Pinnacle had planne to pay justunder $15 milliom for 20.
4 acres, but that development team dropped out in Septembefr 2008, making room for Vlass to take over. Vlasds previously announced plans to constructa $150 milliojn project, half the cost Unicorp committed to spen in 2005, to create a new downtown. total build-out could take up to 13 something Councilman Govin saidhe wasn’t too excited about. “I felt that was a little he said. “But you’re never goin g to get a plan that is going toplease everyone. This is excitinf for the city, and I don’t want to do anything to dampe nthat excitement.
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