PANAMA CITY — The city’s plan to purchase property on Beach Drive has many moving parts and motivations.
The mayor believes it’s in the city’s best interest to buy the land to assist with development of the city marina property. Commissioner John Kady believes the city should not be in the business of interfering with a valuable piece of private property and he thinks the current asking price is very expensive.
And there is the seller’s condition that the land must be a park or other public use — or the city could cough up $800,000 more — which is currently complicating matters significantly.
With the blessing of the commission, Mayor Greg Brudnicki set up meetings with Southeast Properties and Cliff Myers in November to talk about their properties west of 101 Beach Drive, which the city already owns. Brudnicki suggested making 430 W. Fifth St., by far the largest of the two owned by Southeast Properties, into a park.
“There’s a possibility that we might be taking away some of the public access for the marina,” Brudnicki said of the marina plans.
With the city wanting to make the land a park, Southeast responded by offering the city an $800,000 gift, knocking the total asking price down from $4 million to $3.2 million. But that condition came with a contract that gave the city a five-year window during which it could repay the $800,000 to remove the public use restriction. After five years, the land would stay a park for forever, and compromising that restriction would result in a lawsuit.
Also, part of the draft of the memorandum of understanding for the marina project states: “If the city is successful in acquiring waterfront property adjacent to the marina, the city agrees to allow the developers to propose a use for that property in their plans.”
The other commissioners are not fans of the park condition but they were interested in the property at the Dec. 16 meeting. Commissioner Billy Rader said the city had contemplated buying the property when it was more expensive.
“It’s as cheap as it’s going to be,” Brudnicki said. “It’s all about timing.”
The city recently conducted an appraisal of both properties. The Southeastern Properties section came in at a range of $2.11 to $2.53 million. Myers had asked for $495,000 for his property — .43 acres at 111 W. Beach Drive — and the appraisal came in at a range between $206,500 to $244,000.
“That’s almost 100 percent different,” Kady said.
At the commission meeting Jan. 13, Kady urged the commission to follow Florida Statute 166.045, which requires the commission to obtain a second appraisal and then average the two appraisals for any property over $500,000. Kady expects the second appraisal to vary little from the first.
Southeast Properties attorney Bob Hughes said he does not think his client will accept any less than the $4 million, or $3.2 million with the public use condition.
To pay more than the average of the two appraisals, the commission would need four out of five members to agree, and Kady said he can’t see himself voting for it because the property should be maintained for private interest. Hughes said Southeast has received interest from private entities, just not at the right price. Brudnicki maintains it would be just as easy for a business to approach the city as Southeast Properties.
He is also wary of using money the city borrowed as part of the marina development specifically the $12.9 million loan acquired through First Southwest in March 2013. Of that total, $4.8 million already has been spent on the seawall and construction at the marina entrance. The amount was budgeted to have $7.4 million go toward seawall repairs and $5.5 million for Marina Park and Civic Plaza.
