SunTrust Tower Sold for $31.1 Million

[jcjohnpaint]

Nothing about this garage was done correct from the beginning- landing, building with correct size retail to begin with, building with intent of holding additional add on layers or tower later. 
The only thing that Brown really did for downtown and it was a flop. 

[thelakelander]

^Like the Brooklyn developments, the garage dates back before the Brown administration.

[simms3]

Half of this board predicted ALL of this would happen.  We can dig up countless posts.  COJ is literally the most incompetent city in the country.  The city would do BETTER if there were NO government whatsoever, lol.  This city and all the idiots who run it and the idiots who vote those idiots into office couldn't possibly make dumber decisions on a sequential/consecutive basis if they tried.

I'd go so far as to say that if this were 16th century France, heads should roll.  Now since it's 21st century America, people should lose their jobs over this - whoever's still in that had a part in all of this.  Is there such a thing as a fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers?

On the bright side, maybe easier to re-assess the building at a higher value now that it traded?  But it still won't cover the cost the city has put in to foster this transaction.

[fieldafm]

^Like the Brooklyn developments, the garage dates back before the Brown administration.

To illustrate this, look at the original ordinance.  Its 2011.  The year Brown was getting elected.  He didn't take office till afterwards.

Whoa, let's back up here. The entire fiasco happened during the Brown administration. It was well into 2012 when this deal finally went to DDRB and didn't even get sent to Council until 2013.

SEVERAL COJ employees during this time (myself and Doug Skiles were the public voices pushing a better product on this from the beginning) told me that Mayor Brown left no doubt to COJ employees that this garage would need to be built no matter what. They pushed through the elimination of retail and they were the ones that shifted money from Sleiman Enterprises failed request to buy the Enterprise Center parking facility (that was Peyton's last F-U towards Sleiman as he was leaving office) thereby raiding the money that had been set aside to settle a decades long commitment to provide dedicated Landing parking. The mayoral administration also pushed through the elimination of the clawback provision (further screwing over taxpayers). Let's not make the Mayor's office out to be the hero in this situation. They are far from it.

The old Kuhn parking-garage deal was dead long ago. The newest Parador-specific redevelopment deal, the new garage (that couldn't be expanded vertically-like the old proposal) and the new subsidization-scheme was all done during Brown's term. Frankly, trying to absolve the Brown administration from this fiasco is insulting.

[thelakelander]

^Yes, Brown's administration has its faults as well. It was never my intention to state that they did not. However, I do remember the idea of taking the money that was supposed to go to the purchase of the Enterprise Center lot and spending it on a garage at this site, originating in the final Peyton days.  Ron Barton was still around in those days.  Here's a quote from a 2010 article:

On one side is Mayor John Peyton and his administration.

Ron Barton, the executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, released his most recent ideas for solving the Landing's parking woes earlier this week.

One was to let Landing patrons park for free in the city-owned Water Street garage.

It's only a five-minute walk from the garage to the Landing, and I had made that same suggestion several years ago.

That must have been on a winter day. When I walked the path Tuesday evening, when it was just 80 degrees, it was a bit warm. In summer's 95 degree heat, it's not going to happen.

And let's just say the sidewalks there aren't exactly pedestrian friendly. Scratch that idea.

Barton's second idea is to provide free parking in the courthouse lot on weekends and after 6 p.m. on weekdays.

Same problem. It's about a five-minute walk to the Landing. Besides that option always has been available, and Landing customers don't use it.

Barton's third proposal is for the city to give $2.2 million to the owners of the SunTrust building across the street from the Landing to build a parking garage, which would have 200 spaces set aside for the Landing on weekends and after 6 p.m. on weekdays.

Enter the other side of this fight, Toney Sleiman, now the Landing's owner.

Sleiman maintains that the only way he can attract the nationally known restaurants needed to revitalize the Landing is to have guaranteed parking, especially for the lunch-time crowd.

Barton's ideas are a flop at that, Sleiman says. He's also miffed at the idea of the city spending $2.2 million to help SunTrust build a garage.

That money, in his view, is part of the $3.5 million the city promised for Landing parking through previous agreements that fell through.

Full article: http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/400904/ron-littlepage/2010-04-22/sleiman-has-stronger-case-landing-parking-issue

It was a bad idea when Peyton's administration proposed it and it was a bad idea when Brown's administration finalized it. Good deal for Parador though.  The other Suntrust owners should send them a turkey for Thanksgiving.

[For_F-L-O-R-I-D-A]

^Yes, Brown's administration has its faults as well. It was never my intention to state that they did not. However, I do remember the idea of taking the money that was supposed to go to the purchase of the Enterprise Center lot and spending it on a garage at this site, originating in the final Peyton days.  Ron Barton was still around in those days.  Here's a quote from a 2010 article:

On one side is Mayor John Peyton and his administration.

Ron Barton, the executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, released his most recent ideas for solving the Landing's parking woes earlier this week.

One was to let Landing patrons park for free in the city-owned Water Street garage.

It's only a five-minute walk from the garage to the Landing, and I had made that same suggestion several years ago.

That must have been on a winter day. When I walked the path Tuesday evening, when it was just 80 degrees, it was a bit warm. In summer's 95 degree heat, it's not going to happen.

And let's just say the sidewalks there aren't exactly pedestrian friendly. Scratch that idea.

Barton's second idea is to provide free parking in the courthouse lot on weekends and after 6 p.m. on weekdays.

Same problem. It's about a five-minute walk to the Landing. Besides that option always has been available, and Landing customers don't use it.

Barton's third proposal is for the city to give $2.2 million to the owners of the SunTrust building across the street from the Landing to build a parking garage, which would have 200 spaces set aside for the Landing on weekends and after 6 p.m. on weekdays.

Enter the other side of this fight, Toney Sleiman, now the Landing's owner.

Sleiman maintains that the only way he can attract the nationally known restaurants needed to revitalize the Landing is to have guaranteed parking, especially for the lunch-time crowd.

Barton's ideas are a flop at that, Sleiman says. He's also miffed at the idea of the city spending $2.2 million to help SunTrust build a garage.

That money, in his view, is part of the $3.5 million the city promised for Landing parking through previous agreements that fell through.

Full article: http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/400904/ron-littlepage/2010-04-22/sleiman-has-stronger-case-landing-parking-issue

It was a bad idea when Peyton's administration proposed it and it was a bad idea when Brown's administration finalized it. Good deal for Parador though.  The other Suntrust owners should send them a turkey for Thanksgiving.

How much do the developers at for the Trio/Barnett Bank buildings want again?

[spuwho]

^Yes, Brown's administration has its faults as well. It was never my intention to state that they did not. However, I do remember the idea of taking the money that was supposed to go to the purchase of the Enterprise Center lot and spending it on a garage at this site, originating in the final Peyton days.  Ron Barton was still around in those days.  Here's a quote from a 2010 article:

On one side is Mayor John Peyton and his administration.

Ron Barton, the executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, released his most recent ideas for solving the Landing's parking woes earlier this week.

One was to let Landing patrons park for free in the city-owned Water Street garage.

It's only a five-minute walk from the garage to the Landing, and I had made that same suggestion several years ago.

That must have been on a winter day. When I walked the path Tuesday evening, when it was just 80 degrees, it was a bit warm. In summer's 95 degree heat, it's not going to happen.

And let's just say the sidewalks there aren't exactly pedestrian friendly. Scratch that idea.

Barton's second idea is to provide free parking in the courthouse lot on weekends and after 6 p.m. on weekdays.

Same problem. It's about a five-minute walk to the Landing. Besides that option always has been available, and Landing customers don't use it.

Barton's third proposal is for the city to give $2.2 million to the owners of the SunTrust building across the street from the Landing to build a parking garage, which would have 200 spaces set aside for the Landing on weekends and after 6 p.m. on weekdays.

Enter the other side of this fight, Toney Sleiman, now the Landing's owner.

Sleiman maintains that the only way he can attract the nationally known restaurants needed to revitalize the Landing is to have guaranteed parking, especially for the lunch-time crowd.

Barton's ideas are a flop at that, Sleiman says. He's also miffed at the idea of the city spending $2.2 million to help SunTrust build a garage.

That money, in his view, is part of the $3.5 million the city promised for Landing parking through previous agreements that fell through.

Full article: http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/400904/ron-littlepage/2010-04-22/sleiman-has-stronger-case-landing-parking-issue

It was a bad idea when Peyton's administration proposed it and it was a bad idea when Brown's administration finalized it. Good deal for Parador though.  The other Suntrust owners should send them a turkey for Thanksgiving.

Blaming solely the Mayor is kind of pointless. As you can see, the amendements went through committee, reviewed and approved by council.

I have appreciated Lori Boyer's candidness of council affairs.  I think some feedback from her based on the property selling would be valuable now.

[JeffreyS]

No one in the city Govornment at the time seemed to be able to see what was so obvious that parador was building the garage end of story.  They were just trying to see if they could get anything out of the city because why not.

[tufsu1]

How much do the developers at for the Trio/Barnett Bank buildings want again?

more than $3.5 million

[thelakelander]

Blaming solely the Mayor is kind of pointless. As you can see, the amendements went through committee, reviewed and approved by council.

I have appreciated Lori Boyer's candidness of council affairs.  I think some feedback from her based on the property selling would be valuable now.

To be clear, I'm not trying to place the blame on anyone or attempting to make a political statement. Peyton/Brown administration, council, JEDC, the community, etc......bad deal all around.

[Tacachale]

^Like the Brooklyn developments, the garage dates back before the Brown administration.

To illustrate this, look at the original ordinance.  Its 2011.  The year Brown was getting elected.  He didn't take office till afterwards.

Whoa, let's back up here. The entire fiasco happened during the Brown administration. It was well into 2012 when this deal finally went to DDRB and didn't even get sent to Council until 2013.

SEVERAL COJ employees during this time (myself and Doug Skiles were the public voices pushing a better product on this from the beginning) told me that Mayor Brown left no doubt to COJ employees that this garage would need to be built no matter what. They pushed through the elimination of retail and they were the ones that shifted money from Sleiman Enterprises failed request to buy the Enterprise Center parking facility (that was Peyton's last F-U towards Sleiman as he was leaving office) thereby raiding the money that had been set aside to settle a decades long commitment to provide dedicated Landing parking. The mayoral administration also pushed through the elimination of the clawback provision (further screwing over taxpayers). Let's not make the Mayor's office out to be the hero in this situation. They are far from it.

The old Kuhn parking-garage deal was dead long ago. The newest Parador-specific redevelopment deal, the new garage (that couldn't be expanded vertically-like the old proposal) and the new subsidization-scheme was all done during Brown's term. Frankly, trying to absolve the Brown administration from this fiasco is insulting.

Most definitely. The process was not so far along that the whole thing couldn't have been fixed by Brown's administration, but instead, they added even more egregious problems. The buck stops there.

[Marle Brando]

For sake of keeping it classy..it is hard for some to separate personal from political. In all actuality, the wheels were put into motion long before Brown was in office. Sure it would have been nice for him to come in and reverse all the bad deals in progress but as a Mayor freshly in office still getting his feet wet, I can understand how this particular deal may have been either overlooked or deemed not worth stopping what he deemed at the time would be 'progress' in a long unsolved parking issue. Maybe those new political 'friends' he may had to win over to get in office had a few hands in the deal. We do not know. But what I do know is we have the power to demand that retail comes to the garage.
       How do we do that? Simple. We, starting with the people on this board have to overwhelmingly support what is already there nearby. Support the restaurants and retail in the Landing and around Adams, Ocean, Laura streets. Create and show that there is a demand. Investors go where the money is period. Talking does nothing. The action we can control is spending. Do it downtown and stop whining.
      On another note in defense of Brown..I didn't even vote during the election as I was torn between he and Bishop, regardless that's no excuse I know. But what actually will take me to the polls for Brown for sure this go round is the excellent job he has done energizing the sports entertainment scene downtown. I had an absolute blast starting with the ever growing in popularity ArtWalk Wednesday, and ending with the Suns game, then Armada match. I don't believe another candidate at the time would have touched even the little momentum downtown is experiencing now over the last 4yrs. At the end of the day through his faults, and blunders, and incompetence some have expounded upon, I truly believe Brown the person and Brown the Mayor does genuinely have downtown in his best interest. But then, after all at the end of the day..there's politics.

[Marle Brando]

For sake of keeping it classy..it is hard for some to separate personal from political. In all actuality, the wheels were put into motion long before Brown was in office. Sure it would have been nice for him to come in and reverse all the bad deals in progress but as a Mayor freshly in office still getting his feet wet, I can understand how this particular deal may have been either overlooked or deemed not worth stopping what he deemed at the time would be 'progress' in a long unsolved parking issue. Maybe those new political 'friends' he may had to win over to get in office had a few hands in the deal. We do not know. But what I do know is we have the power to demand that retail comes to the garage.
       How do we do that? Simple. We, starting with the people on this board have to overwhelmingly support what is already there nearby. Support the restaurants and retail in the Landing and around Adams, Ocean, Laura streets. Create and show that there is a demand. Investors go where the money is period. Talking does nothing. The action we can control is spending. Do it downtown and stop whining.
      On another note in defense of Brown..I didn't even vote during the election as I was torn between he and Bishop, regardless that's no excuse I know. But what actually will take me to the polls for Brown for sure this go round is the excellent job he has done energizing the sports entertainment scene downtown. I had an absolute blast starting with the ever growing in popularity ArtWalk Wednesday, and ending with the Suns game, then Armada match. I don't believe another candidate at the time would have touched even the little momentum downtown is experiencing now over the last 4yrs. At the end of the day through his faults, and blunders, and incompetence some have expounded upon, I truly believe Brown the person and Brown the Mayor does genuinely have downtown in his best interest. But then, after all at the end of the day..there's politics, the arch nemesis of progression.

[fieldafm]

^Like the Brooklyn developments, the garage dates back before the Brown administration.

To illustrate this, look at the original ordinance.  Its 2011.  The year Brown was getting elected.  He didn't take office till afterwards.

Whoa, let's back up here. The entire fiasco happened during the Brown administration. It was well into 2012 when this deal finally went to DDRB and didn't even get sent to Council until 2013.

SEVERAL COJ employees during this time (myself and Doug Skiles were the public voices pushing a better product on this from the beginning) told me that Mayor Brown left no doubt to COJ employees that this garage would need to be built no matter what. They pushed through the elimination of retail and they were the ones that shifted money from Sleiman Enterprises failed request to buy the Enterprise Center parking facility (that was Peyton's last F-U towards Sleiman as he was leaving office) thereby raiding the money that had been set aside to settle a decades long commitment to provide dedicated Landing parking. The mayoral administration also pushed through the elimination of the clawback provision (further screwing over taxpayers). Let's not make the Mayor's office out to be the hero in this situation. They are far from it.

The old Kuhn parking-garage deal was dead long ago. The newest Parador-specific redevelopment deal, the new garage (that couldn't be expanded vertically-like the old proposal) and the new subsidization-scheme was all done during Brown's term. Frankly, trying to absolve the Brown administration from this fiasco is insulting.

Most definitely. The process was not so far along that the whole thing couldn't have been fixed by Brown's administration, but instead, they added even more egregious problems. The buck stops there.

meh.  no one is 'absolving' anyone of anything, and there is very little reason to whip yourselves up into an ungainly hysteria about it.

The point was made that this fiasco, like the successful developments on Riverside were started before the Alvin Brown administration.

Unless you have a time machine that can go back and change the inherent truth of that, then Im frankly not sure what you are working yourself up into fits over.

I went back in my time machine and didn't see you taking personal time off work to stand up against this bad deal... So pardon me for my 'ungainly hysteria' when you try to rewrite history. Didn't you take a paid position to work on the Brown campaign?

Barton's idea was to use the money and dedicate about 40% of the garage for the Landing (still a bad idea, but at least the money would have went towards what it was originally earmarked for- solving a DECADES long obligation to the Landing). Barton was then fired by the Mayor. That's when this latest scheme was cooked up. This current boondoggle was way worse than anything proposed before. And the Mayor's office pushed this deal through. I am 100% certain of this, because I was told that by several COJ employees and advised to keep my mouth shut as I was fighting a losing battle because the directive had come straight from the top. Considering I was one of the lone voices against this deal, this is my first hand account of the wheeling and dealings of Parador's taxpayer-subsidized gift. That gift included no retail, no Landing parking, a structure that could not be expanded vertically in the future and no taxpayer protection in the inevitable sale of the building. Believe me, it was a lonely feeling speaking out against this fiasco (and still is). Also, inexplicably Brown's administration failed to bring home a deal to move Advanced Disposal's headquarters to the Suntrust Building (they instead moved to Nocatee, meaning a major homegrown business is now located in St Johns County).

[fieldafm]

But what I do know is we have the power to demand that retail comes to the garage.

With all due respect, 'we' have no power in this regard. Doesn't appear that retail will be coming to the garage now.