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Lodgeless Moose are left in the lurch

By Anne Lindberg, Times Staff Writer
In print: Wednesday, October 1, 2008

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PINELLAS PARK — The deal seemed good at the time: The Moose would trade their too-large location to a developer in exchange for a smaller piece of property with a brand-new lodge built just for them.

But it hasn't turned out that way. Instead of a new lodge, the Moose have four concrete block walls, some wooden trusses and a lien against their new land for sand the developer has apparently not paid for.

"We're 20 months into this thing and you can see how far we've got," said George White, governor of the Loyal Order of Moose, St. Petersburg Lodge. "We're doing our damnedest, pardon the expression, to get in."

The Moose wanted to leave their former property on 59th Avenue N at Interstate 275 because their membership was dropping and the members found it too hard to maintain the 5.095 acres.

So, when 58th Avenue LLC of St. Petersburg approached Moose members with the deal, they said yes.

They gave their land, currently valued by the Pinellas County property appraiser at $1.121-million, to 58th Avenue LLC. In return, 58th Avenue LLC gave the Moose a 0.537-acre parcel on the northeast corner of 62nd Avenue and 42nd Street N in Pinellas Park valued by the county at $184,900. To sweeten the deal, 58th Avenue promised to build a turnkey lodge on the property.

The Moose held the groundbreaking for their new lodge in November 2007 and have been stuck ever since. Without a lodge, they've found it impossible to hold dinners and do other fundraising activities. And membership is dwindling even more.

They've tried contacting 58th Avenue LLC and Florida First Development Corp., which are spearheading the development. But they've found that company officials do not readily return calls. And when they do, the Moose don't like the answers.

"Every time we talk to them, they've got another excuse," White said. "We're losing our patience. ... They're not holding up their side of the agreement."

Florida First and 58th Avenue LLC could not be reached for comment.

Florida First and 58th Avenue have also run into trouble with the property they got from the Moose. The original plan was to build townhomes on the property, but that fell flat. More recently, clearing has begun and Florida First, which is run by the same people who run 58th Avenue LLC, has said it plans the Windsor Pointe Apartments on the site. The county has been asked for a $1.98-million loan to help pay for the $14.2-million project.

But it is unclear if Florida First will get that loan. A company with the same name has been sued several times in Pinellas County and has been a defendant in civil lawsuits in Hillsborough and Manatee counties, according to court records.

Some of the lawsuits allege such things as failure to pay money owed or breach of contract. Many of the suits have been settled. Some are ongoing.

And now the Moose are angry.

"Our members are very upset," White said. "We should have taken the cash and walked away from this."