The Pensacola Community Redevelopment Agency and the Hawkshaw Development Group are back in negotiations to reduce the project to a 54-unit condo development with no retail or commercial space.
The City Council, sitting as the CRA, voted 4-2 to reopen negotiations on a deed covenant that serves as the development agreement for the property. It will be the sixth time the agreement has been changed since CRA agreed to sell the property to developer Robert Montgomery in 2018 for $1.6 million.
Developers missed a deadline to file construction permits under the agreement in May and had to pay the CRA a $100,000 penalty fee.
Earlier this year, Brian Spencer, a former City Council member who joined the development group in 2019, said developers were looking to go back to a mixed-use concept with approximately 80 condo units and possibly a retail space. However, on Monday, Spencer said the downtown commercial and retail property market was already oversaturated.
“Our contention is that we feel it is vitally important that downtown projects deliver — in hotel speak it’s called heads in beds — but for residential development, we need people in residences to help support these businesses that are already in the spaces,” Spencer said. “We need more homeowners, stakeholders, stewards of residences that want to support these other businesses.”
Spencer listed several open commercial properties downtown that are unleased or undeveloped.
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The new proposal calls for a 54-unit condominium development with three buildings covering 131,100-square-feet.
Councilwoman Sherri Myers said she felt the new design goes back to the original concept the CRA had in mind when its first approved the project in 2017.
Other council members disagreed and expressed frustration with the entire project.
Councilwoman Teniadé Broughton, who is CRA president, said Myers was the only council member still on the board who approved the original project. Broughton said she believes the way the development has occurred has not taken into account the site’s history as part of what was once a predominately Black neighborhood.
“For me, this is taking advantage of the community’s trust, the way this is set up,” Broughton said.
Broughton said she had taken comfort in the fact there was a chance for retail space to come back into the project so all members of the public could get use out of the site, but without that aspect, she could not support it.
“This particular one I can’t stand for because my community can’t stand for it,” Broughton said.
Councilman Delarian Wiggins and Broughton voted against reopening negotiations while Councilwoman Ann Hill walked out of the meeting during the discussion.
City staff said they would begin negotiations with the development group and bring back an updated agreement as soon as October.
Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827.
