Developers at standstill

One wants movement while the other wants a delay on a SR 52 road-widening project.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP, Times Staff Writer
Published October 2, 2007

SAN ANTONIO - The interests of two city-sized developments in east Pasco have gridlocked over an $11-million road project.

Pasco Town Centre and Bella Verde sit side by side just southeast of State Road 52 and Interstate 75, two giant prospects that together cover some 3,000 acres, and potentially nearly 9,000 homes and millions of square feet of retail and office space.

But their prospects now depend on working out differences over a two-lane road just over a mile long, running on the northern edge of both projects.

Pasco Town Centre, a 945-acre mixed-use project spearheaded by Shailendra Group of Atlanta, needs that stretch of SR 52 widened and wants to know when it's going to happen.

But the responsibility lies with New Cities Development Group, the California developer that's behind the proposed 2,000-acre, 27-hole golf community Bella Verde, formerly called Cannon Ranch.

New Cities has just asked the County Commission to delay the widening project, which would expand SR 52 to four lanes and buy enough space for six.

Tim Hayes, who represents Pasco Town Centre on the SR 52 issue, denied that the two developments were caught in an "adversarial relationship."

"Pasco Town Centre wants to know when the construction is going to take place," he said. "When the road gets torn up, it's going to be hard for them to do anything."

But county officials say Bella Verde isn't honoring its deal.

"They should have started construction a long time ago," said Bipin Parikh, Pasco's development services chief. "Here we have another DRI development of regional impact that relies on four lanes. How is Pasco Town Centre going to break ground when they don't have four lanes on the ground?"

Parikh said the state Department of Transportation is implicated because it failed to perform maintenance work on the road.

"DOT is beginning to worry the whole thing is falling apart," Parikh said. "Now DOT doesn't know where we stand."

Kent Fast, a DOT official involved in the issue, didn't respond to a request for an interview Monday.

The county is reluctant to referee what it sees as a private sector standoff.

"We don't want to be in the middle," Parikh said. "You have an individual obligation, you better fulfill that."

The attorney representing Bella Verde, Keith Bricklemeyer, didn't return calls Monday.

Nearly three years after its latest owners announced its grand development plans, Bella Verde still hasn't gotten off the ground.

Last year, undisclosed developers bailed from plans to buy the property for more than $100-million, leaving New Cities in the lurch.

Last week, the developers asked the county for permission to delay the completion of the SR 52 project until 2011. Its development agreement allows them to ask for more time extensions.

It complicates matters for Bella Verde that the county plans to straighten out SR 52, just slightly south of Bella Verde's SR 52 project. Hayes said Bella Verde is still trying to work out how the two road projects would complement each other.

For Pasco Town Centre, the delay is a problem not just for its construction plans, but also for its legal representation.

Ron Weaver, of Stearns Weaver Miller in Tampa, represents the Shailendra project, but he also represents Bella Verde in some aspects of real estate contracts.

The SR 52 issue put him in an awkward spot.

"We simply said we cannot get involved in issues between the two projects," he said Monday.

So on the specific issue of the SR 52 project - just "one-hundredth" of the project's legal work, Weaver said - the standoff has introduced Hayes, a Land O'Lakes attorney widely considered to be a top contender for Pasco's next county attorney.

The Shailendra Group hired Hayes on the recommendation of Keith Appenzeller, Pasco Town Centre's chief roads engineer.

But Hayes quashed rumors that the Shailendra Group was seeking to butter up someone who might become the county's most powerful public counsel.

"When they hired me, I hadn't applied for the job yet," Hayes said.

Hayes said he hopes to resolve things by the time the new county attorney is appointed, which is expected within the next two months.

But would the standoff jeopardize Pasco Town Centre, which had planned to start work next year?

"Perhaps not," Appenzeller said. "Once we understand what they want to do, Pasco Town Centre can amend our plans around that."

Parikh appeared less patient.

"I don't know why they keep continuing it," he said. "They still want to discuss impact fee credit stuff."

Parikh said Bella Verde's developers could eventually be fined for violating their development agreement, though he added he needed to check with county attorneys on that issue.

Hayes was more hopeful.

"It's going to take some time," he said. "But I hope, in a couple months, that both parties will have worked out a time frame."

He added a caveat.

"With the history of Cannon Ranch, one never knows," he said.

Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at cyap@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 1, 2007, 21:43:12]