The near universal assessment of downtown New Port Richey is a need for additional retail activity to boost pedestrian traffic. We're curious then exactly how the city's $2.2-million acquisition of the historic Hacienda building will fit into this plan.
When first proposed, the intent of acquiring the 76-year-old Hacienda - once an opulent hotel and now a residential facility for mentally ill adults - was to stimulate commercial activity. There was talk of retailing or a restaurant on the ground floor.
But most of the potential uses listed in the redevelopment agency's five-year work program are unlikely to generate foot traffic. They include: promoting outdoor recreation at Sims Park, archival storage for the West Pasco Historical Society, or offices for the Parks and Recreation Department workers at Sims Park or the West Pasco Chamber of Commerce.
Surely the city won't spend $4.2-million, including $2-million worth of future renovation work, for government and nonprofit agency offices. Such spending is grandiose, particularly as the city confronts a more imperative need to redevelop the vicinity of HCA Community Hospital which plans a move to the Trinity area within the next four years.
Another possible use for the Hacienda, according to the redevelopment plan, is turning part of the building into a bed and breakfast.
That at least would bring people downtown, but it certainly is a curious use considering the city has turned down three private-sector proposals for bed and breakfast sites elsewhere in New Port Richey. The rejections, based on flimsy reasoning of required owner occupancy or altering neighborhood character, are counterproductive to the city's stated mission. After all, this is a city so boastful of its proredevelopment attitude, the council is considering a $100,000 budget expenditure to market New Port Richey as an attractive home for new businesses.
The Hacienda presents other challenges. The city purchase has been a dubious idea from the outset. For starters, the historically significant building faced no cataclysmic future. It was a functioning facility lauded nationally as a model for easing the transition for former institutionalized patients back into residential living.
Gloria Swanson and Babe Ruth were noteworthy guests during the hotel's heyday, but the social work later drew then-Gov. Bob Graham and members of Congress. Ridding downtown of the Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services clients should not be the city's motivation.
Also, the city redevelopment's inverted pyramid theory - the more money spent upfront, the greater the rate of property tax collection in the later years - contradicts the council's responsibility to be prudent stewards of the public purse.
The building has an appraised value for tax purposes of $843,000, according to the Property Appraiser's Office. Gulf Coast purchased it for $1.1-million in 1989. The city obtained the property for $700,000 less than the agency's appraised value, but $450,000 more than the city's 2002 appraisal.
So, the city may have overpaid for a building it did not need. What now?
Future uses are likely to be tied to grant money obtained for the renovation work, but the city must pursue a workable plan to maximize public exposure.
"I am certain council's intentions are to return that to public usage where the public can enjoy it," council member Tom Finn said. "I don't want to see city offices, personally. It'll kill it."
