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Deal to buy 5 parcels still alive

By LORRI HELFAND
Published January 18, 2007

LARGO - City officials were poised to kill a deal to buy five parcels in the heart of downtown when the owner had a change of heart.

The owner, Chris Alepa of Amber & Onyx Realty, had initially refused to give the city more time to smooth out a problem with one of his tenants.

But about 90 minutes before Tuesday night's City Commission meeting, Alepa called City Attorney Alan Zimmet to revive the deal. He agreed to give the city until March 5 to inspect the properties and negotiate a deal with Chris and Eddie Houston, who own O'Houston's Irish Pub.

The Houstons have a long-term lease, and officials saw it as an impediment to their plan to redevelop the site.

Largo, which is revamping its West Bay Drive redevelopment plan, hopes to combine the five properties with two others the city bought in October and market an entire block to a private developer. With the extension, the city will have until March 20 to close on the deal.

Previously, the city had until Wednesday to complete its due diligence and until Jan. 31 to close on the $2.16-million sale.

Alepa said he first refused the extension because he had another buyer, but that deal didn't pan out. "The investor is still interested, but he didn't come to the table," Alepa said.

City Manager Steve Stanton said a compromise with O'Houston's may involve relocating the pub and compensating the Houstons for the remaining years of their lease at the time the property is redeveloped. How much that would cost the city is unclear, but he said Largo wasn't willing to fork out an additional $1-million or $2-million on top of the purchase.

Eddie Houston said he and his wife are eager to negotiate a deal with the city, but, if they have to relocate, they want to pick a new site themselves.

"Chris and I have worked too hard to be told where to go and what to do," Houston said. "Otherwise, we're happy to stay here."

They pumped more than $100,000 into their business at 518 West Bay Drive and negotiated a 15-year lease three years ago because the pub was their dream, they said.

Officials said they learned about that lease after the Times asked them about it, just days before the city was scheduled to enter into a purchase contract.

In December, commissioners were wary of rubber-stamping the deal and asked staff to report back to them.

Besides completing its negotiations with the Houstons, the city still must conduct an environmental study and have the properties appraised, Zimmet said. The agreement is contingent on the appraisal concluding that the properties are worth at least $2-million.

City Commissioner Andy Guyette was pleasantly surprised to find out the deal was still alive. "I really hope we can make this all work out for everybody's benefit."

[Last modified January 17, 2007, 21:59:44]