Downtown professionals and city leaders discouraged with lackluster RFP responses or development agreements, which have fallen through can look to Palatka, FL, for inspiration.
The city’s riverfront park and marina redevelopment plan was completed in 2004, but never adopted. Municipal officials hoped the downtown waterfront location of two blocks adjacent to a city park would attract mixed-use development projects.
Instead, the developer chosen for the riverfront project in 2006 withdrew in 2007; a second developer, chosen in 2007, withdrew from the project in 2011; and a third RFP process in 2012 attracted only two incomplete proposals.
The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) found that efforts to re-purpose the 2.5 acres was hindered by:
- a worsening economy and poor development climate;
- unrealistic expectations by city officials and the public;
- a lengthy and burdensome public development review process;
- deteriorated and substandard condition of the existing buildings;
- minimal CRA and city financial contribution toward redevelopment; and
- lack of a definitive, unified vision for the properties.
The full article appeared in our print edition. To always get the full story, read Downtown Idea Exchange.