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TAMPA - A Tampa Housing Authority official has told two developers competing to rebuild the authority's rundown Central Park Village that they can't work together.
But housing authority attorney Rick Gilmore is still reviewing the legality of Michaels Development and Creative Choice Homes submitting a joint proposal.
The developers, meanwhile, are moving ahead until told, for certain, that they can't work together, said Tracey Sievertson, a spokeswoman for the newly formed Creative Michaels team. On the day they announced their plan to join forces, Housing Authority contracting officer Nicholas Dickerson notified the companies that they can't revise their proposals after the May 16 deadline.
"To accept an unevaluated, joint proposal from a team that was not selected as one of the short-listed teams would compromise the ... process and will not be allowed or accepted," the letter says.
A selection committee evaluated six proposals and named Michaels and Creative Choice as their top two picks.
In third place was a joint bid from Bank of America Community Development Corporation and A Better Place Group. A Better Place is headed by Bill Bishop and Don Wallace. Both men served as key players in Civitas, the for-profit developer that had a failed attempt in 2003 to build a 157-acre community in place of Central Park Village.