Studer Community Institute

EDATEs, flood repairs, Rotary playground on City Council agenda

January 9, 2015
/ Shannon Nickinson
/ government

Pensacola City Council will have a full plate at Monday’s committee meeting, which begins at 3:30 p.m. in the second floor conference room in Pensacola City Hall. Among the topics: — EDATEs are back. Council will asked to pass a resolution of support for a planned $50 million redevelopment project in downtown Pensacola. The resolution is for Daily Convo LLC as a qualified Economic Ad Valorem Tax Exemption (EDATE) applicant. Daily Convo is owned by entrepreneurs Quit and Rishy Studer. The couple bought the site of the former Pensacola News Journal at Romana and Jefferson streets in 2013 for $3.4 million. Work is expected to begin in February to demolish the current building and redevelop it into a multistory, mixed-use project that will include up to 300 apartments and space for rental offices and retail outlets. It also will include a parking garage, with partial public use of up to 500 spaces. Last September Council approved the tax exemption for the project. That means the Studers will continue to pay taxes on the property at the current assessed value. The 2014 taxable value of the property is $2,964,553. The tax bill on the PNJ property generated about $80,000. In 10 years, the tax bill will be assessed on the full, post-investment value of the new project. But since then, issues with the way the city processed such requests came to light and Mayor Ashton Hayward suspended the exemptions until all recent requests could be reviewed. That’s how the Daily Convo project came back to the table. After consulting with Property Appraiser Chris Jones’ office, the submission of the form requesting an EDATE and the city ordinance granting it should be completed in the year the exemption is desired to take effect. In the case of this project, that’s 2017. To be eligible to apply for the exemption upon completion of the project, state law requires a motion or resolution of support by the governing body be approved before construction starts. Work is expected to begin in February. “The proposed city resolution tracks the resolution approved by the County with City Council expressing its support of Daily Convo LLC as a qualified economic development tax exemption applicant,” the agenda reads. — Flooding repairs, beautification projects. A contract for flood repairs at 20th Avenue and Lloyd Street. The $227,629 contract to Road Inc. would cover permanent repairs of the area, which were damaged in the April deluge. It will include the construction of new stormwater structures, pipes, curbs and gutters, and repaving. Council also will be asked to authorize the mayor to execute an agreement for Florida Department of Transportation to do landscaping work at U.S. 98 at the Bayou Chico Bridge. The state will cover the budgeted cost of $99,300 cost of the project, which will be bid in March 2015. The city will take over maintenance of the work in 2017. A similar measure on the agenda would see the city take over maintenance of a DOT landscaping project on Scenic Highway from bayou Texar to Langley Avenue in 2017. The budget for that project is $100,100. — Rotary playground at Community Maritime Park. Council will be asked to allocate $48,250 from the tree planting trust fund to cover the costs of landscaping the playground that Rotary Club of Pensacola wants to build at the Community Maritime Park site. The Club has committed $200,000 from its foundation to the project; won a $102,500 grant from IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area for the surface and safety features; and gotten in-kind donations from professionals in the form of architectural, landscaping and playground plans. To see the entire agenda for Monday’s meeting, click here.

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EDATEs, flood repairs, Rotary playground on City Council agenda

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