Copyright Times Publishing Co. Dec 5, 2003
A group of private investors led by one-time Olympic
promoter Ed Turanchik unveiled an ambitious plan Thursday to transform
one of the city's poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods into an
upscale community with tree-lined sidewalks and tranquil parks.
The project calls for re-engineering 157 acres of
land in downtown that now house low-income apartments and the Central
Park Village housing project into a single master-planned community
where organizers say the rich and poor will live together.
Gone would be the concrete block housing projects,
the seedy bars and the boarded-up vacant houses that make the Central
Park area one of the city's blighted spots.
In its place, developers would build a massive
project stretching from downtown to Ybor City with 3,500 upscale condos
and townhouses, 1,000 low-cost units, and retail stores covering 185,000
square feet.
Turanchik's company could construct as many as five
high-rise residential towers in downtown, redesign two urban streets
into majestic, tree-lined boulevards, and construct a new park and lake
downtown.
The company would set up a financing structure to
pour millions into a new non-profit, A Foundation for a Better Place,
that would pay for concerts, social events, and charity work. It would
leverage federal housing money to set up a trust fund to maintain
low-cost and public housing units.
Outside of Central Park, the group plans to build
low-cost homes on hundreds of lots in east Tampa, West Tampa and Tampa
Heights. They would not only provide the lots, but provide the
residences, dubbed "Renaissance Homes," too.
Another company called Renaissance Steel would open a
plant on 22nd Street in east Tampa to produce the steel panels for the
new low-cost homes. The factory, financed by Bank of America, could
employ at least 100 new workers.
Turanchik's group claims a list of wealthy investors
as backers, and claims to own or have contracts pending on most of the
land in the 157 acres.
Besides building homes, the project promises a social
re- engineering of the economic order of downtown. Depending on what
happens, as many as 2,000 people could be moved to other parts of town.
Or hundreds could begin life again in subsidized homes in an upscale
neighborhood they could never have afforded.
Promises, problems
Turanchik's unveiling Thursday at the group's new
offices featured grandiose promises, beautiful pictures and applause.
But the event also foreshadowed the project's huge hurdles.
Outside, the audience could hear chants from public
housing activists. Turanchik said the protesters did not understand his
plans.
"We know all to well what is going on inside -
that is why they don't want us in there," said Sateesh Rogers, from
St. Petersburg, a member of the Uhuru movement. "The buildings will
look nice, but who will occupy them?"
Rogers was barred at the door from entering, where
staff checked people's photo identifications.
Absent were any high-level officials from City Hall,
except for Paul Wilborn, the city's creative industries manager. The
only elected official attending was County Commissioner Ken Hagan, a
Republican who represents Hillsborough's northern suburbs.
Mayor Pam Iorio said later that she wanted the
project to be closely examined. She called public participation
"very important."
Unlike former Mayor Dick Greco, who often acted as a
city booster at developer kickoffs, Iorio said she won't do that.
"I appreciate more the ribbon cuttings when
something is complete," Iorio said. "Where the city helps to
celebrate is at the end of the process - after an idea has come to
fruition, after there has been all the important civic involvement, when
something becomes a reality."
The public process begins Monday when Turanchik will
sit down with the staff at the Tampa Housing Authority.
The authority plans to submit an application by Jan.
20 for a $20- million federal Hope VI housing grant to raze Central Park
Village. It's the authority's last chance to get those federal funds,
because the program is being phased out.
If the authority gets the grant as planned, it could
kill Turanchik's dream. He says he needs the housing authority's land to
make his project work.
Turanchik's plan
Turanchik wants the authority to abandon its plans
and adopt his group's vision as a partner. But Turanchik has shared few
details with the authority, whose staff did not attend Thursday's event.
Only housing authority board member Gerald White was there.
Turanchik argues that his plans will build more
low-cost housing than the authority's designs, and will drive the area's
transformation - while the authority's design would block it.
Housing authority executive director Jerome Ryans
said he'll listen to Turanchik. But he has to protect the interests of
the poor first.
Even if the housing authority approves, it's not
clear if the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development would
back a joint project.
Turanchik would need to convince more than 2,000
low-income, largely minority residents to trust a privately held group
of investors, who would take over their homes and relocate them.
His investors, led by Lazy Days RV Super Center CEO
Don Wallace, promised that they truly wanted to improve the lives of the
poor. They hoped the project would transform the urban core, not simply
turn a profit.
"If I don't make a single penny on this or if I
don't get my money back . . . I will be the happiest person in the
world," Wallace said. To make the project work, "we will have
to be willing to say not 'what is in this for me - what is in this for
us.' "
In the courtyards at Central Park, no one had met
Wallace or Turanchik. They had only heard rumors of the plans for them.
"Why would you tear down something nice?"
asked Inez Priester, 64, who raised her nine children here. People's
lives would be improved by taking simple steps like planting flowers and
painting walls, she said.
"Because we're right downtown, they want to come
in and take it away from us," she said.
Under Turanchik's plan, every resident would get to
move to another home by the time bulldozers arrived.
The residents could find their own affordable housing
or choose Turanchik's lots. Months or years later, they could move back
to the newly designed Central Park, which will be predominantly upscale.
About 80 percent of the new residences would sell at market rates from
$125,000 to $650,000.
About 980 units out of 4,500 residences would be set
aside for subsidized housing. Of those, 257 would be considered public
housing units - reserved for the poorest of the poor.
"All we are doing is providing a much wider
array of choices," said developer Bill Bishop, one of Turanchik's
partners.
Government's role
Next, developers would have to persuade the County
Commission and City Council to approve a tax increment financing
district for the project. The district allows developers to steer a
portion of new property taxes to pay for roads, parks and other capital
projects in the new Central Park for 30 years.
Turanchik touted the increased tax base as one of the
project's major benefits, saying it could generate $1-billion in new
taxes.
But many tax increment financing districts steer as
much as 50 percent of the new taxes back into the project. It's not
clear how the Central Park tax structure would work. Officials would
have to negotiate a deal.
Elected officials, though, were skeptical.
"It seems to me it's being done for the benefit
of the developers," said County Commissioner Pat Frank.
Frank, who hasn't seen a concrete proposal, wants to
know details.
"My paramount concern is 'What does it do to the
people who are already there?' " Frank said. "I have a lot of
questions."
Commissioner Jan Platt raised similar concerns.
"At some point in time, enough is enough,"
Platt said. "It's just my observation that the city is already
pretty strapped for finances, and that this will further deplete their
tax base."
Turanchik also needs government approval to create a
community redevelopment area, to obtain public housing tax credits and
to pay some costs for new roads, sewers and underground utilities. The
city or housing authority might also be asked to use condemnation powers
to take away people's land as a last resort.
City Council members also promised to bring
skepticism to a plan that may sound good in concept.
"If it is a new, refreshing idea, great,"
City Council member Rose Ferlita said. "If it's not one of
inclusion, then we have an issue there.
"I'm not running away from it and I'm not
running toward it."
- Times staff writers Kevin Graham and Bill Varian
contributed to this report. David Karp can be reached at 226-3376 or
karp@sptimes.com.
The grand plans
Ed Turanchik and his partners at Civitas want to:
Take control of 157 acres, including the Central Park
Village housing complex, to build a master-planned urban community.
Design a community that transforms a predominantly
poor neighborhood into a mixed-income one, with as many as 1,000 low-
income units and 3,500 market-rate residences.
Build a European-style boulevard along Cass and Tyler
streets that connects Central Park to the new cultural arts district on
the Hillsborough River. Residential high-rises would line the streets.
Develop low-cost housing across the city where
displaced tenants of the Central Park housing complex could move. The
group has control of at least 250 lots on which they propose erecting
manufactured houses called "Renaissance homes."
Fund a nonprofit, A Foundation for a Better Place,
using fees paid by residents of the new project.
Open a manufacturing plant in east Tampa to produce
steel components for low-cost homes. The material would be used in
Renaissance homes and other homes across central Florida.
The players at Central Park
ED TURANCHIK, managing director of Civitas, the urban
redevelopment company that plans to redevelop the Central Park Village
area. Led the unsuccessful effort to bring the 2012 Olympics to Florida.
Helped create Tampa Bay Water, the region's water supplier. Pushed to
build a National Hockey League arena in downtown Tampa. A former county
commissioner.
DON WALLACE, chairman of Civitas. Chief executive
officer, Lazy Days RV Super Center. Major philanthropist.
BILL BISHOP, managing director of Civitas. President,
Leslie Land Corp. Former land development director, Newland Communities.
Developed Westchase and the FishHawk Ranch.
MANDELL "HINKS" SHIMBERG, board member of
Civitas. Developer who built sections of Town 'N Country. Chairman, USF
Foundation board. Past chairman, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.
RHEA LAW, board member of Civitas. Past chairwoman,
Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. Member, USF board. Lawyer and
partner, Fowler White Gillen Boggs Villareal & Banker, which will
handle land use and permitting for Civitas.
THOMAS HUGGINS III, board member of Civitas.
President, Ariel Business Group, a management consulting firm. Chairman,
Tampa- Hillsborough Urban League board. Co-chairman, 1998 Jeb Bush
campaign in Hillsborough County.
REX FARRIOR, board member of Civitas. President,
Farrior Enterprises LLC, a real estate and corporate investment company.
CHARLEY HANNAH, board member of Civitas. Co-founder,
Hannah- Bartoletta Homes. Former NFL player, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and
Los Angeles Raiders.
DEANNE ROBERTS, marketing and public relations
director for Civitas. Chairwoman, Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce
board. Founder, marketing and public relations firm.
BETTY WIGGINS, director of community relations for
Civitas. Former Tampa City Council member. Director, East Tampa Business
and Civic Association.
- Sources: Civitas, Times files
