PANAMA CITY — After struggling for a year to get permission to build low-income senior housing at the Marie Hotel site, Royal American is keeping open all its options for the property, including selling it or a land swap with the city.
“We’re married to it because we own it, but we would swap wives,” Royal American representative John Lewis said.
Both potential Panama City Marina developers expressed interest in the property. Great South architect and developer Michael Beck and HomeFed’s local representative William Harrison said the Marie Hotel, at Fifth Street and Harrison Avenue, could be prime retail space. Harrison also suggested the building be returned to its original use as a small hotel.
--- CRA APPROVES MARIE HOTEL PLAN»»
They also both prefer the city acquire the property through an exchange with Royal American.
“It would depend on the area,” Mayor Greg Brudnicki said.
Brudnicki is under the assumption that Royal American would want to continue with its plan to build a tax credit-eligible, senior housing development. However, Planning Director Mike Lane is skeptical the city has any properties that would satisfy Royal American’s needs; proximity to a hospital is a consideration, as well as being in a “qualified census tract.”
To be a qualified census tract, at least 25 percent or 50 percent of the households in the area must make less than 60 percent of the area’s median income, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Lewis said Panama City has qualified census tract areas in each of the Community Redevelopment Agency districts — Millville, St. Andrews, Downtown and Downtown North.
Lane specifically thought about a 9.95-acre property on Harrison Avenue just south of 19th Street. The plus side of that property is that it would provide more than enough density for the 80 units Royal American originally wanted for the Marie. On the con ledger, the property is a wetland the city purchased about a decade earlier with stormwater and drainage concerns in mind. He added that Royal American had the opportunity to buy the property when it was sold. Lewis said the property would not work because it is too wet.
Brudnicki said the city previosuly offered to Royal American a piece of city-owned property on the far eastern end of 11th Street, but Royal American turned it down because it, too, was wetland.
City Manager Jeff Brown said the city would prefer that either Great South or HomeFed purchase the Marie property outright.
“If they want it so much, they should buy it,” he said.
Brudnicki added that the city offered to buy the Marie Hotel at appraised value. Brudnicki estimates it at between $300,000 and $400,000. The Bay County Property Appraiser has the taxable value listed at $160,900. Commissioner John Kady said the commission never made a formal offer but the purchase was discussed.
Tuesday meeting: But the developer may have to wait at least one meeting before there’s a commission decision on the development order. City Attorney Nevin Zimmerman will ask the Panama City Commission on Tuesday to table for one meeting a decision on a development order for the Marie Hotel.
Zimmerman is considering whether an existing appeal by Royal American, filed Nov. 20 in Bay County Circuit Court, on a development order application for 44 units conflicts with current applications for 31 units on the site.
“We can’t consider multiple developments or applications on the same parcel,” Commissioner John Kady said.
Zimmerman said the contention of Royal American is that the applications are different. The 31-unit version only includes two parcels on the property and does not have a parking garage. Zimmerman will consider multiple options. One, if the 44-unit version is validated by the court, would be placing language in the development order eliminating the 31-unit application. The much less time-consuming option would be to make a written agreement with Royal American to drop its appeal when the 31-unit order is approved.
Kady, by far the most vocal commission opponent of affordable housing at the Marie Hotel site, said he would vote for the 31-unit development order application at the Dec. 16 meeting.
Lewis is hopeful an approved development order for the Marie site would add value to the property.
--- CRA APPROVES MARIE HOTEL PLAN»»
“We’re going to get this done,” Lewis said. “We believe we have the right.”
From the city’s perspective, one thing is clear — the public perception against a senior affordable housing complex has not waned.
“There isn’t a day that passes where someone isn’t telling me, ‘You’re not going to let them build that thing, are you?’ ” Brudnicki said.