Unconfirmed $6.7-million bid for land raises eyebrows

By COLLINS CONNER

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 13, 2000

PORT RICHEY -- Wednesday afternoon, a middle-aged woman stood on Port Richey's peeling red pier feeding pinfish to a raggedy heron. From the pier's edge, she probably could have pitched the fish across the Pithlachascotee River to the channel's commercial district.

Hardly a bustling marketplace, the riverfront consists of several restaurants, a small marina, washed-out lime rock lanes and a couple of creaky docks.

Yet, according to County Commissioner David "Hap" Clark, a slim slice of this waterfront is worth $6.7-million to someone.

That, Clark said at a recent County Commission meeting, is what his brothers James and Page were offered for property that stretches a mere 195 feet along the river's east shore.

The Clark brothers said they turned down the offer.

"I'm 83 and my brother Jim is right behind me," said Page Clark. "We were born here in this house. And we want to live here as long as we live."

The Clarks won't identify who dangled the offer.

But Jim Clark said it was not Paradise of Port Richey, the operator of SunCruz gambling ships that dock nearby on property owned by his brother Hap.

Considering the parcels total less than 1 acre and are assessed for tax purposes at just under $340,000, $6.7-million is an astounding amount -- this in an area where the top price so far is the $1.5-million paid by the cruise company for adjacent land nearly twice the size.

"That's ridiculous," said State Rep. Larry Crow, R-Palm Harbor, who is an attorney for SunCruz. "Because of the stance of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, (the Clarks') particular property is not worth much."

The department and Paradise locked horns over the cruise ship operation in Pasco County; the matter isn't settled.

"We're in several pending lawsuits with the DEP," Crow said. "There's no parking there (at the Clarks' property). If you have residential property that you turn into a marina, you have to go through a Development of Regional Impact," an arduous state review.

"The cost of all that would make the $6.5-million look cheap by the time you're done," Crow said. "I wouldn't pay $650,000, much less $6.7-million for a piece of property that's questionable whether it could ever be used as such."

Crow questioned whether the offer was legitimate.

"It doesn't ring true from anything I know about the industry, the gambling boat business, the regulatory climate -- nothing," he said, "But I've been wrong before.".

Pasco Property Appraiser Mike Wells said he "heard mumbles" about the offer at a recent social function.

"Do I think the story is legitimate?" he asked. "I've seen cases where you'll have guys come up and say:"I'll give you this huge amount of money,' and then they put about 10 weasel clauses in the contract big enough to drive a truck through."

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