Advertisement

Slow pace of redevelopment along U.S. 19 in Pasco triggers impatience

 
After a decadelong delay, construction is under way again at Main Street Landing in downtown New Port Richey. When completed in 16 to 18 months, the complex will include 80 apartments and 14 commercial units at Main Street and the Pithlachascotee River.
After a decadelong delay, construction is under way again at Main Street Landing in downtown New Port Richey. When completed in 16 to 18 months, the complex will include 80 apartments and 14 commercial units at Main Street and the Pithlachascotee River.
Published March 1, 2017

NEW PORT RICHEY — There were speeches and refreshments, and the dignitaries donned white hard hats, used red shovels and flung dirt. But it wasn't your typical groundbreaking.

Last week, New Port Richey's mayor and City Council, along with developer Linda McGurn of Gainesville, hailed the renewed construction at Main Street Landing, an 80-apartment, 14-store complex, that stalled more than a decade ago. The high-profile project at Main Street and the Pithlachascotee River marked the first significant private downtown investment in the city's then-fledgling redevelopment program. It ground to a halt amid rising construction costs, falling real estate prices and a prior council that declined to authorize a renegotiated deal.

That changed a few years ago, and construction is now expected to be completed in 16 to 18 months, bringing new residents and economic vitality to downtown.

Erik Suojanen wouldn't mind being part of a similar groundbreaking. The owner of Gill Dawg Marina in Port Richey recently purchased a vacant former mobile home park at Grand Boulevard and U.S. 19 for $800,000. The 5-acre site is considered a key part of turning Port Richey's waterfront area into a highly desirable commercial and recreational district within the county's Harbors market area along the U.S. 19 corridor.

Suojanen hopes the site will attract a hotel and businesses focusing on entertainment, whether a spa, batting cages, art gallery, theater or anything else that might be fun for people to do.

He also is hoping for an assist from Pasco County, but turned to social media last week after a planned meeting of elected officials from the county, New Port Richey and Port Richey was postponed for a second time because of scheduling conflicts.

On Gill Dawg's Facebook page, Suojanen posted renderings of Port Richey's 1998 plan for its waterfront overlay district that hasn't advanced, the city's plan for its waterfront park that it couldn't afford and a conceptual plan for his own property that is outdated. If nothing else, it shows that redevelopment is a lengthy process, and a few people are growing impatient.

"I'm hopeful," Suojanen said. "The purpose of that post was … to get some opinions and ideas on how to proceed. I want to see something done."

A few county commissioners share his sentiment.

"It seems like it's a very, very slow-moving process," said commission Chairman Mike Moore.

"It is just unacceptable, in my opinion," Commissioner Mike Wells Jr. said. "Something needs to happen very, very soon."

Commissioner Kathryn Starkey got tired of waiting and formed her own leadership council, asking representatives from 150 neighborhoods in the south Harbors area to follow the lead and successes of Colonial Hills and Beacon Square in fighting blight.

The commissioners' comments came Feb. 21 during a routine briefing on activities within the county's development services division that morphed into an impromptu critique of how the county is implementing the Harbors plan.

The county designated the area from Pinellas to Hernando counties between the coast and Little Road as its Harbors market area and began the redevelopment effort in 2013. The aim is to try to save the aging U.S. 19 corridor from slipping into a commercial slum while simultaneously trying to improve the housing stock, business climate, tourism and health care in the 90-square-mile area, which is home to roughly 200,000 people.

From the government's end, there has been a renewed emphasis on code enforcement and forcing owners of dilapidated commercial buildings to clean up their properties. Business development, however, was slowed by the six-year, $72 million construction project that added turn lanes and medians to improve U.S. 19 safety. And Gov. Rick Scott initially vetoed $500,000 to landscape the highway's medians.

Those setbacks have been overcome. The contractor wrapped up the U.S. 19 construction last spring, and the state Department of Transportation allocated grant money to the county to add trees and other vegetation to the highway's median. That work, however, is still a year away.

There is evidence of other, incremental changes. In the vicinity of U.S. 19 and State Road 52, a Perkins restaurant was torn down and is being replaced by a McDonald's. The abandoned Krystal restaurant to the north was demolished, and developers have talked to the county about putting a Waffle House there. And Hudson businessman and hotelier Vijay Patel purchased 76 acres northwest of the intersection for a planned hotel, commercial buildings and housing.

To the south, the county is working with New Port Richey to try to assist a private developer in acquiring multiple parcels at U.S. 19 and Main Street for a medical office building, said Melanie Kendrick of the county's Office of Economic Growth.

She also said building owners have obtained permits for $7 million worth of construction work along the corridor — some of it for internal improvements not visible from the outside. By comparison, the Main Street Landing building permits from the city of New Port Richey list the value of that investment at $8.3 million.

There are inherent challenges to redevelopment. Building in a greenfield is cheaper. Rent inequities can be problematic when an owner has to spend $20 per square foot to rehab a building, but can recoup only a third of that from a tenant. And much of the property the county hopes to see redeveloped is privately owned.

Just ask New Port Richey. Construction at Main Street Landing — which began long before the county wrote its Harbors redevelopment plan — took 10 years to rebound.

"It's going to take us a minimum of 20 years for the large-scale impact," Kendrick told commissioners.

Others are looking for more immediate activity.

"Any kind of positive momentum is helpful," Suojanen said. "All we've been hearing for past 30 years is what a jewel this is. I think the climate is ripe for it."