The developer wants breaks on some taxes, fees and housing funds to build a new neighborhood downtown.
By DAVID KARP
Published December 20, 2003
TAMPA - If developer Ed Turanchik gets his way, the city's low-income housing funds will first go to his project in Central Park before other Tampa neighborhoods see the money.
His company, Civitas, would also get breaks on impact fees and could skip certain sales taxes.
Lawyers for Turanchik's development company outlined the public concessions he wants in a proposal to city officials Friday.
It was the first time Turanchik had mentioned using city housing funds and getting tax breaks to develop an upscale, 157-acre neighborhood downtown.
Turanchik called the draft "points for discussion," but he wants the City Council to vote on a deal by Jan. 15.
"It is a starting point for working," Turanchik said.
"Here are the areas where the city can be helpful."
A development group led by Turanchik needs approval from the city and Tampa Housing Authority to build its project in Tampa's Central Park neighborhood. They want to demolish low-income housing projects in the area and replace them with an urban, upscale neighborhood where people rich and poor might coexist.
Turanchik blamed his attorneys Friday for creating a document that appeared to place demands on the city.
"The lawyers put all this stuff in," said Turanchik, a member of the Florida Bar who no longer practices.
Economic development administrator Mark Huey promised to carefully scrutinize the deal Friday. Without getting into specifics, he raised his eyebrow at some provisions, including the request for first dibs on state housing dollars controlled by the city.
Developers always ask for everything at the beginning of negotiations, he said.
Turanchik asked for more than he's sought previously:
He wants the city to obtain taxpayer funds from a state agency, the Florida Community Trust, to pay for public parks in his project.
He wants the city to help him get enterprise-zone grants to build a manufacturing factory in east Tampa.
He wants the city to waive all impact and permit fees.
He wants an exemption from paying certain local sales taxes.
He wants the city to apply for tax funds to help build a lake in his project, which would hold stormwater.
Turanchik's proposal says the city would help his company "to the extent applicable." What that means still needs to be worked out, he said.
He said he simply wants to avail himself of assistance the government typically gives developers.
He said the city would normally seek state tax funds to buy new parks. The parks he wants, which would likely be used by Central Park residents, would also be open to anyone.
Under Turanchik's proposal, the city would pay a private homeowners association to maintain the park to current city standards.
Turanchik called his request to waive impact fees "very standard" in economic development deals.
"I don't see a lot of surprises in here," he said.
The draft agreement also makes it clear how Turanchik would like the city to use its low-income housing dollars to finance his project.
Turanchik wants the money to help build the kind of upscale housing projects in Central Park that government can't normally afford.
City housing dollars now pay to construct and rehabilitate homes throughout Tampa - in neighborhoods such as Port Tampa, Forest Hills and Sulphur Springs.
Turanchik wants to partner with the Tampa Housing Authority to build "magnificent" housing complexes unlike anything else in the city.
To make the deal happen, Turanchik's investors would give the authority five sites downtown and pay for structured parking. (Turanchik's group isn't giving away the land; in a swap, it would get choice real estate that the housing authority owns.)
Turanchik's private group would also give the housing authority money for every private unit it sells: $1,000 for every condo or townhome, and $500 for every rental unit initially leased.
In addition, the authority could win a $20-million federal Hope VI grant to help pay for its complex.
Turanchik hopes a partnership with private investors will improve the authority's chance to get the federal grant.
But if that isn't enough to build the upscale complexes, the city could chip in with its housing funds.
Turanchik said the city should naturally use its low-income dollars for projects such as this. That's what the money was intended for, he said.
- Times staff writer David Karp can be reached at 226-3376 or karp@sptimes.com
