After a day of negotiations, Hillsborough commissioners say they won't apply for a federal grant that might have helped redevelop Tampa's Central Park area.
By DAVID KARP and BILL VARIAN
Published January 16, 2004
[Times photo: John Pendygraft]
The Civitas plan would have redeveloped 157 acres that includes the Central Park housing project into a master-planned community. A smaller plan, if funded, will redevelop only 28 acres.
TAMPA - A sweeping redevelopment project that promised to revitalize one of Tampa's poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods is all but dead.
The Hillsborough County Commission on Thursday night did not agree to terms that developers, the head of the Tampa Housing Authority and Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio said they needed to apply for a $20-million federal grant to redevelop Tampa's Central Park area.
Without the vote, they said, the project cannot go forward. And there's little time to change the minds of county commissioners.
An application for the $20-million grant must be mailed by Saturday afternoon, and the commissioners are not scheduled to meet today, so reconsidering the proposal would be difficult, even if they wanted to re-evaluate.
"That effectively kills the deal," said Jerome Ryans, executive director of the Tampa Housing Authority.
Ryans left the commission chambers Thursday night with his staff, head down, planning to go to his office. His board will meet at 8:30 a.m. today to decide what to do.
Instead of joining with developers led by former Olympic promoter Ed Turanchik, the housing authority would be left with a smaller project to renovate Central Park. The plan still would mean the Central Park housing project would be razed and residents would be moved, with an opportunity to return to a nicer complex.
But the smaller project depends on getting a $20-million federal grant. And the competition is stiff.
Ryans said they had a much better chance of getting the $20-million by joining forces with developers, who were pledging millions to the housing authority.
"That would have been a great application," said Ryans, shaking his head. "It would have been put us in a very, very competitive mode."
The broader plan would have redeveloped 157 acres, rather than 28 acres. It would have created a master-planned community with 13 more acres of parks, a lake, retail stores and tree-lined streets. Developers also promised to fund a nonprofit to pay for community activities.
The smaller project, if funded, would create a new housing project in Central Park, but it would be surrounded by the area's seedy bars and run-down homes.
"It's just incredible," Ryans said of the vote.
Mark Huey, the mayor's economic development administrator, left the meeting after more than four hours.
"That kills the opportunity for the housing authority," Huey said.
He walked away with a co-worker, talking about getting a drink.
Commission Chairman Tom Scott, who backed the plan, was also disappointed.
"It's unfortunate that the city and county have played politics with the lives and living conditions of the poor people of Central Park," said Scott. "It's very unfortunate."
Scott said he was "tired and exhausted and frustrated" after more than three hours of debate that was peppered with drama. The result was a 4-3 vote by commissioners offering to consider creating a special taxing district needed for the project, with the details to be negotiated later.
Earlier in the day, Iorio sent a letter to commissioners saying she had reached terms with Civitas for creating the taxing district, which would help pay for roads and other infrastructure inside the new Central Park. Part of the terms involved amending an agreement between the city and county in order to allow the taxing district to be created.
In her letter to commissioners, Iorio asked that they accept the amendment without change, and that became a sticking point for commissioners throughout the meeting.
The proposal appeared headed for a quick rejection. On Tuesday Commissioner Jim Norman, a perceived swing vote, had complained that Iorio was absent from a discussion of the Civitas plan, and he raised the same objection Thursday, voicing his displeasure at her absence. In walked Iorio, returning from a conference of urban mayors in Orlando.
She told commissioners she hadn't been at the earlier discussion because she was in negotiations and had nothing she could recommend. On Thursday, she told them she had negotiated a deal that best safeguarded taxpayers.
She turned detail questions over to her staff and said she wasn't prepared to discuss the overall merits of the proposal. She said she had merely started the ball rolling.
"This is a narrowly drawn issue," Iorio said. "There's no implied endorsement."
But commissioners wanted to get into the details, and the exchange became tense at times.
"I'm not comfortable until you explain the mass exodus of people who will not be able to stay there," Norman said.
Fine question, Iorio said. But one for a future day, as Norman complained she wasn't answering his questions.
Storms asked Iorio repeatedly to explain the why she was making the recommendation she was, setting off another confrontation.
"That's not really the issue," she said.
Reached at home Thursday night, Iorio said she couldn't negotiate better terms with the county. She structured her deal to protect city taxpayers.
City taxpayers were the ones with a financial risk if the development went bust. The city had agreed to back bonds to help pay for the project's infrastructure.
The county government did not have any money or bonds at stake.
If the county couldn't accept the terms, the deal would not work, Iorio said.
"It is that split that protects the taxpayers," Iorio said.
The terms that Iorio wanted the commission to accept were the same ones accepted for deals that help other low-income areas.
"We were not asking for a new formula," Iorio said. "It seemed very reasonable."
Iorio had waited until Thursday night to support moving a step forward with the plan, as she negotiated until the last minute with Turanchik.
Turanchik only unveiled his proposal in December, and rushed to finish the deal by Saturday. Normally, a project of this scale takes years.
The deal Iorio negotiated included layers of protections for taxpayers, she said.
At Iorio's insistence, the developers agreed to disclose all current and future investors. Developers did not typically do that under former Mayor Dick Greco's administration. But Iorio made it a non-negotiable requirement of doing business with the public.
Iorio also got developers to pay for a new aerial fire truck at a cost of about $900,000 and front the costs for extra staff to review the project.
Downtown Partnership president Christine Burdick said her jaw dropped when she heard the terms. She had never seen the city negotiate such a tough deal with developers, she said.
Most importantly, Iorio structured the deal to minimize taxpayer risk.
Iorio did not want a repeat of what happened under Greco's term with the Centro Ybor shopping center project. Greco backed loans for Centro Ybor, and when sales at Centro Ybor slumped, taxpayers were left with a $16-million bailout.
"I will not have that happen on my watch," Iorio said Tuesday.
Iorio is so tight with her personal money that she doesn't even use an ATM. She determines what money she needs each month, and withdraws it one time.
"We haven't looked at the pretty pictures," Iorio said. "It is not of interest how many condos or latte bars there will be. My interest is to show we can protect the taxpayers."
- Times staff writer David Karp can be reached at 813 226-3376 or karp@sptimes.com
