Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

At today’s Tampa City Council Meeting an update on the planned renovation of the Ft. Homer Hesterly Armory on North Howard was discussed. It wasn’t pretty. 

Four of the city council members are newly elected and were not involved during the last years’ selection process.   Several issues were raised:  1. Some council members had been briefed by city staff about the project in the last few days, some were not.  2.  Mary Mulhern raised the main question of whether the Armory Committee had the power to select the proposed plan?.

The question caused attorneys to scramble.  Talk of breach of contract surfaced quickly.

It seems the real issue comes down to the intended use of the property, however, after over 2 years of hearings, requests for proposals, and negotiations;  this seems a little late to be bringing this up.  Mary Mulhern told us today that “affordable housing” was a better use for the property than a “hotel and a grocery store.”  Council member John Dingfelder indicated that the failure by Staff to provide every member with a briefing did not seem as it should be.

 An official with Intelident, the Heritage Square group, indicated surprise at the meeting’s tone and confirmed as we indicated previously that a signed contract is in place between them and the National Guard.

George Cornelius of Tampa Digital Studios was surprised at the potential turn at todays’ meeting indicating that his proposal could still be alive.  He indicated he still had an interest in following through with his original proposal that included over 400 rental apartments as well as, a film and sound stage with additional production facilities, and additional office spaces.

We have followed the Armory project extensively and have several key questions to raise.  

1.  With the tangle between the National Guard, the City Council, the Armory Committee and the Mayor/City Staff - how can you expect this deal to ever get done without someone bending some on the protocol of issues?

2.  After spending thousands of dollars over the past two years to present a bid that you think has been approved (or rejected as the case may be) only to have it all up for reconsideration again, why would any developer want to deal with the City of Tampa?

3.  Do you really think that a $200,000 and up home is “affordable”?  And in today’s real estate market where the Tampa Tribune headline reads: “Home Prices to Dip, Report Says” “Bay Area Might Suffer a 12% Decline”, who do you think is eager to stick their neck out to fund or build a residential property at this time?

4.   Buyer Beware!  Environmental problems have been reported to exist on the property and of course, the National Guard relocation (at a potential cost of about $3 million) has to be handled by any potential purchser(s) of this project.  How much is that going to cost?

5.  At the deciding meeting held at the Tampa Police Department, the decision of the volunteer Armory Committee was made clear- Heritage Square by Intelident - and voted on, however several days later, the top three proposals were submitted to the National Guard to the surprise of ALL of those that had submitted previously.  When one of the participants tried to get a copy of the tape of the meeting they were told that the tape had been turned over and did not record.  Our final questions: was the tape intentionally erased and if so, why and for what purpose?  And was it clear at that time that a single choice had been made or that three proposals would be submitted?

Economic forecasts have said that the Ft. Homer Hesterly Armory renovation could have a greater economic impact than the Channelside project. This gateway to the SOHO, Hyde Park, and Old West Tampa is too valuable to get lost in some bureaucratic shuffle. But, who really has the authority to make this project happen? And will the Heritage Square partners stay committed or throw up their hands and just walk away?  Watch for this on the Oct. 18th City Council agenda as all of the lawyers involved try to determine just who does have the authority to make this decision.

You can see the original proposals here.

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