Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Developer reduces request for city's aid

If Oldsmar agrees to the deal, the 500,000 square foot, eight-story mixed-use complex would cost the city $8-million.

By TERRI BRYCE REEVES, Times Staff Writer
Published November 7, 2007

OLDSMAR - The developer of the ambitious but long-delayed Olds Square project offered the city a new deal this week.

Dr. Doug Weiland cut his request for city financial support by one-third.

But Weiland still wants $8-million, plus city permission to build an eight-story downtown hotel and residential tower.

"With an $8-million contribution and eight stories, we reach critical mass to make this a successful, viable project," Weiland told City Council members during a special meeting Monday.

Weiland, the developer and chief executive officer of JES Properties, proposes to build Olds Square as a 500,000-square-foot, $100-million mixed-use development with a hotel, residential units, and retail and office space.

It would go up on State Street next to City Hall and is touted as the signature piece that would transform Oldsmar's downtown.

The suggested source of city support for the project would be so-called "tax-increment financing" dollars generated by the growth of property values in the city's downtown redevelopment district. In return, the city would get 400 of Olds Square's 1,000 proposed parking spaces.

The buildings, ranging in size from two stories to eight, would be stepped back from the street like a wedding cake. There would be broad walkways with a central plaza for special events.

The council generally seemed receptive to the renderings he presented, but with hesitation.

"Does this project have to be so large?" Council member Janice Miller asked.

Council member Greg Rublee objected to the plan. He said he was looking for something with more small-town charm.

"We're assuming hotel-conference center is the only way to go," he said. "Why not a market-driven retail downtown area such as a Whole Foods and a retail complex around that? ... Arts and entertainment are becoming a popular downtown draw for a lot of communities. You could build your retail section around that."

But Weiland said he has talked to some of the bigger natural foods stores and the fit isn't right. And he didn't think the mix was right for arts and entertainment, either.

The hotel, he said, was necessary to bring people.

"You need that traffic to feed the retail," he said. "If you replace the hotel with an art center, I believe you won't get vibrancy you want downtown."

Rublee still wasn't convinced.

"It's too expensive," he said. "I'd rather focus on making sure we have that water project complete and some of the other projects under way."

But Council member Eric Seidel said the project would generate tax dollars for the city forever.

"Considering all the potential changes in tax revenue I think it's a great idea for city to look at new ways to generate tax dollars," he told Weiland. "But you've got to get to six stories."

"If we go to six, the city contribution has to go up," Weiland said. "I'm willing to take a risk, but not willing to commit suicide."

There are other complications. City attorney Tom Trask said a recent Florida Supreme Court ruling could require Oldsmar to hold a referendum when officials want to use tax-increment financing funds on a project such as Olds Square. He expects a clarification to come in the next month or so, but he urged the council not to commit to any tax-increment financing money in the meantime.

Vice Mayor Suzanne Vale appeared to support the project, saying Oldsmar didn't have the advantages of Safety Harbor and Dunedin, which have quaint downtowns.

"This is not like a normal downtown that evolves over years," she said. "We're starting from scratch. Do we want to wait 75 years for ours to get like that? No! We'll all be dead."

Weiland said his consultant projected that Olds Square would produce $20-million in tax revenues.

"That's money we'd never have if the project wasn't built," Vale said after the meeting. "You have to look at the benefits of the community as a whole in terms of others business and the local economy and the new jobs it will create."

To help settle the unanswered questions, Oldsmar has hired a consulting firm from Vero Beach to do a financial analysis of the project. The city is paying $14,900 for that work and expects to see the results by Christmas.

Mayor Jim Ronecker suggested the City Council take a tour of similar mixed-use properties in other cities.

But he said the independent financial analysis of the project must be positive for the city to proceed.

"We're not going to mortgage our future," he said.

What: 500,000-square-foot mixed-use development with a hotel, residences, stores and offices.

Developer: JES Properties of Oldsmar, Dr. Doug Weiland, CEO.

Developer's request: $8-million in financial support from the city, plus permission to build an eight-story building downtown.

What's next: Independent analysis of the project's finances. Expected to be done by Christmas.

[Last modified November 6, 2007, 20:42:00]