Bill Edwards has had his share of political and professional controversy in Pinellas County.
By CARRIE JOHNSON
Published October 25, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - Every morning, Zinet Kalis peers out her front door at the empty shell of a building across the street.
What used to be the Swanholm nursing home is now a crumbling hulk of pink concrete block and dangling wires. A sign out front says, "Future Headquarters of Mortgage Investors Corp."
"It's been like this for more than a year," said Kalis, 46. "They worked on it for a little while, but then they just stopped."
The building is owned by Bill Edwards, the Pinellas businessman who wants to give St. Petersburg millions to renovate the Mahaffey Theater at Bayfront Center in return for control of the facility and an outdoor concert venue that would be built nearby.
"I just wish he would finish one thing," Kalis said, "before he starts another."
Others also are wondering if Edwards will follow through on the proposed Mahaffey project, which would redefine the city's waterfront.
Some residents, protective of St. Petersburg's waterfront and wary of any large-scale plans to alter it, are skeptical. They fear the city will give away control of a prime piece of public land for less than it's worth. And they worry the outdoor concert venue will bring loud music and more traffic than the area can handle.
Mayor Rick Baker backs the project and says the city would get a refurbished theater it otherwise couldn't afford, and its losses would be limited. Baker says he has full confidence in Edwards, 59, who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities, created a sophisticated recording studio on Central Avenue and runs a mortgage company that helps veterans refinance homes at lower interest rates.
But along the way, Edwards has stirred some controversy.
In Treasure Island where he lives, Edwards angered preservationists by spending thousands of dollars to try to block a referendum giving residents greater control over the height and density of buildings.
Edwards also clashed with the Department of Veterans Affairs after it closed loopholes that the department said his mortgage company and others used to overcharge veterans.
Edwards declined to be interviewed, saying through an assistant he was afraid of becoming overexposed.
During a workshop today, the City Council will get its first chance to dissect the Mahaffey proposal. Edwards would pay $8-million to help cover the $19.4-million cost to renovate the theater. He also would loan the city $2.35-million. In return, Edwards would manage the facility for five years and keep all of the revenue.
Council members are eager for a proposal that will save the Mahaffey, but they remain cautious.
"The offer is very appealing," said City Council Chairman Bill Foster. "But we're not going to sell our souls at the expense of the public good."
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While Edwards is often described as a millionaire, exactly how deep his pockets are is unclear.
His Treasure Island home was recently appraised at $2-million. The two-story, 7,000-square-foot mansion has its own dock and a pool. Edwards also has an apartment in New York City, according to his close friend, fellow Treasure Island resident Gail Byrne.
Last month, Edwards chartered a 282-foot yacht for Byrne and eight of her friends. They cruised the Greek islands for eight days and seven nights.
"He's a very, very generous person," Byrne said. "You wouldn't believe how down to earth he is."
Edwards' earlier years were more humble. After growing up in Detroit, he served during the Vietnam War and said he was shot in both legs during combat.
Friends say Edwards' business ventures started small, selling Bic pens. After a stint in marketing, he took over Mortgage Investors Corp. in 1994, a move that eventually made him millions.
The company handles refinancing to veterans and Federal Housing Administration homeowners nationwide, and it has been extremely successful under Edwards' leadership. The company reported $308.9-million in revenue in 2003, more than double its 2002 revenue. It is the largest VA mortgage lender in the country, according to the VA.
But in 1996, a Forbes magazine article said the company was charging veterans as much as 6.7 percent in discount points, nearly three times what most refinancers typically charge.
The VA cried foul and passed a rule requiring lenders to get signed statements from veterans who agreed to pay more than two points above the standard lending rate.
"We wanted to make sure that veterans who weren't sophisticated enough to know the market rate would have some protection," Keith Pedigo, director of the VA's loan guaranty service, said in a telephone interview last week.
But Edwards' biggest battle occurred when the VA tried to crack down on ads that the agency believed were pushing veterans deeper into debt.
The mortgage company ads encouraged veterans to skip two mortgage payments when they refinanced their VA loans. They promised veterans extra money in their pockets but didn't mention the additional debt they would later have to pay.
So the agency passed a rule in 1998 requiring VA approval for refinancing loans to veterans who are more than 30 days behind in their payments.
Edwards told the VA his company didn't engage in the deceptive ad campaign, but he still launched a major initiative to block the new rule. He spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbyists and lawyers, who sued to prevent the new law from taking effect.
After an 18-month legal battle, the VA prevailed.
"We didn't think those advertisements were in the best interest of veterans," Pedigo said. "And as the VA, we were ultimately the ones who would be liable for those loans.
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Edwards may be new to St. Petersburg politics, but he has been active in Treasure Island for years.
In 2002, he plunged into a dispute over the height and density of buildings, spending thousands to try to defeat a referendum that gave residents unprecedented power over future development.
As part of his campaign, Edwards paid for television ads and hired airplanes to pull banners.
"We figure we were outspent by 10- or 20-to-1," said Heidi Horak, a Sunset Beach lawyer who helped lead the effort to establish height restrictions.
At the time, Edwards told the St. Petersburg Times he opposed the referendum because of its wording: The law required 51 percent of all registered voters to decide height and density increases. Such high turnouts are rare in local elections.
But some suspected Edwards was protecting his own interests. He owns several businesses in Treasure Island and recently announced plans to turn the former Ramada Inn at 1200 Gulf Blvd. into a five-story, 160-unit condo project.
The height issue was the talk of the island, pitting neighbors against one another. Election day drew 59 percent of the voters. Two-thirds ignored Edwards' campaign and voted for the referendum.
"This was not a situation where a small group of voters who were the only ones who cared did something," said Frank McConnell, president of Treasure Island Voters Watch. "In fact, you had tremendously high turnout, at least as far as local elections go."
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According to city records, Edwards approached St. Petersburg officials in July with a formal proposal for managing the Mahaffey Theater.
A longtime member of the Mahaffey Theater Foundation, Edwards said his goal was to transform the struggling theater so it could compete with other local venues, such as Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater or the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Tampa.
As the head of the Big3 Entertainment record label, Edwards said he could offer musical expertise and contacts as well as his financial backing.
Edwards first offered to pay $3-million upfront and take on the entire cost of maintaining the facility for five years. After some negotiating, the offer was changed to the current proposal: a much larger initial payment from Edwards and a $2.35-million, no-interest loan, while the city pays $1.47-million per year for theater upkeep. At the end of five years, Edwards would forgive the loan if the deal is extended for another five years.
While the total amount of money Edwards pays remains similar under both scenarios, city Development Administrator Rick Mussett said the larger upfront payment saves the city from having to borrow money to renovate the Mahaffey, avoiding interest charges.
"Absent Edwards' payment," Mussett said, "we may not be able to proceed with this game plan."
But control of waterfront property always has been a touchy subject among St. Petersburg residents. City officials already have backed away from their original timetable, which called for a City Council vote on Nov. 4. Baker had wanted the deal secured by the time demolition begins next month on the adjacent Times Arena at Bayfront Center.
Now a vote is unlikely until December.
"I really haven't had enough time yet to make up my mind," said Council member Virginia Littrell. "But I'm going to be very guarded about letting go of a piece of public property."
-- Times staff researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.
