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Council votes to negotiate with Eriksson

 
Published Aug. 22, 2016

TEMPLE TERRACE — While residents voiced approval of the plan by Eriksson Technologies to build a six-story building as anchor to the proposed Downtown Temple Terrace, many who appeared at a special meeting of the City Council this week complained bitterly about the low price Eriksson offered.

The Council voted unanimously to enter into negotiations with Eriksson for the sale of the southeast corner lot at Bullard Parkway and 56th Street, in what the city hopes eventually will be a thriving, pedestrian-friendly downtown stretching along the east side of 56th Street to the Hillsborough River.

A crowd that just about filled a large room at the Omar Lightfoot Recreation Center came to hear company founder Roy Eriksson, a Temple Terrace resident, detail plans for a $21.7 million building to house Eriksson's headquarters.

The building will have enclosed parking, space for a professional firm tenant, and a bottom floor with 10,000 square feet of space for a restaurant and coffee shop.

"We see this as the first step in the revitalization of downtown,'' Eriksson told the crowd.

The sticking point for many is the $250,000 Eriksson has offered for the 1.5 acres. That's less than half of the lowest appraisal of $690,000. The higher appraisal valued the property at $1.1 million.

Florida Hospital, which had offered more than $2,352,000 for the corner parcel and the 1.5 acre parcel south of it, wanted to build a free-standing emergency department on the corner and a medical arts building just south of it, but the hospital withdrew its proposal a few days before the meeting.

Marty Hudson, the city's redevelopment director, had used a formula to rate the two proposals on how well they fit the vision for downtown Temple Terrace and how much revenue they would produce for the city. Florida Hospital, exempt from taxes, rated a four out of 30. Eriksson, which is expected to generate more than $3 million in tax revenue over 15 years, rated a 29 out of 30.

"Eriksson has offered a low ball figure for the most valuable piece in our redevelopment area,'' said Roger Littlejohn, a resident and Realtor. "This is the gold nugget in our hope for growth.''

He said it would be a great offer if it were not the corner lot.

"The $1.1 million is probably fairly realistic.''

He also urged the council to make sure Eriksson has the finances to complete the project.

Realtor Annette Renny said "$250,000 is really an insult.''

But Sheron Bass, a lawyer and native of Temple Terrace, warned against being too quick to reject Eriksson's offer.

"I realize the market value of that property may be at $1.1 million. But in my humble estimation, market value is simply what the market will bear.

"And for the past 12 years, I'm not aware of anyone coming up with an offer quite that large for that particular lot.''

Andy Ross, who has filed to run for a City Council seat this fall, said he has been to many city meetings and never seen so much consensus on anything.

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"I think everybody is excited about the Eriksson proposal,'' he said. "I am concerned like everybody else about the selling price.''

He said setting the selling price at $250,000 for that lot will drive the value of other properties down because it becomes a comparison sale.

Eriksson contends, however, that a quality office building that meets the city's needs for a pedestrian-friendly downtown will actually drive up the value of adjacent properties because it will create more demand.

"There needs to be some risk sharing on this. What I'm hearing in most of the comments tonight is that people aren't grasping that concept,'' Eriksson said, noting that the city would not be sharing the risk if he paid $1.1 million for the land.

"Not many people are showing up to take a risk like we're taking a risk on this property,'' he said.

Council member David Pogorilich said he wanted negotiators to talk about price, which he thinks is far too low, and also see if Eriksson would be interested in a parcel other than the corner lot.

Council member Robert Boss noted, however, that if they agreed on a different parcel, the city would have to advertise again to see if any other company wanted the new spot, and that would mean stalling work for months longer. The council decided to drop discussion of a different parcel from the negotiations.

"The nature of this project is to reset the city,'' council member Grant Rimbey said. "We need to start the process tonight.''

Contact Philip Morgan at pmorgan@tampabay.com.