Its time for the Laura Street Trio owner to bow out

[thelakelander]

The Laura Street Trio are a collection of irreplaceable historic buildings located on a corridor that's vital to Downtown's resurgence. Despite the City of Jacksonville and business community pulling out all the stops to save and restore the Trio, owner Steve Atkins and Southeast Development Group have been unable to close the deal for over a decade. For the sake of this crucial Downtown property, it's time for new ownership.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/its-time-for-the-laura-street-trios-owner-to-bow-out/

[thelakelander]

Live Oak to buy-out Trio developer

Live Oak Contracting plans to buy the Laura Street Trio for Christmas. After a decade with no deals reached, the Laura Street Trio is set to change ownership as soon as the end of December.

Another round of failed negotiations earlier this month returned the story of the Laura Street Trio to where it was three months ago: in front of a City Council special committee and facing a city-filed foreclosure lawsuit.

This came after the city deemed Southeast Development Group's plan for the rehabilitation of the three historic structures, which asked the city for $97 million, not financially viable, even after developer Steve Atkins brought a new financial partner, Paul Bertozzi founder and CEO of Live Oak Contracting, on board.

That financial partner who was intended to push the deal over the finish line will now buy out long-time owner Steve Atkins and lead the redevelopment of the historic buildings. The Council expressed willingness to remove the liens on the property through legislation to speed up Bertozzi's purchase of the property and to move toward a deal in early 2025, but the mayoral administration staunchly opposed that idea.

"I would love to see Jacksonville as well as the opportunity for the Trio to come back to life," Bertozzi told the committee Monday.

But his plans to buy and revive the Trio are prohibited by the $800,000 in liens against it.

Special committee chair Kevin Carrico said he has drafted legislation to waive those liens and intends to introduce it as an emergency bill at Tuesday's Council meeting. However, such a bill might be met with a mayoral veto, Chief of Staff Mike Weinstein said.

"We would be opposed to any element of activity that would change the lawsuit that's been filed," said Weinstein, who led negotiations on the last, failed Trio deal. "We want our $800,000."

Full article: https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2024/11/25/live-oak-plans-to-buy-laura-street-trio.html?utm_source=st&utm_medium=en&utm_campaign=BN&utm_content=JA&ana=e_JA_BN&j=37609951&senddate=2024-11-25

[CityLife]

There's a fairly easy solution to the lien reduction issue. I've done it in a similar situation. There are likely several different ways you can structure a settlement agreement. You can agree to reduce/remove the liens after certain benchmarks have been met by a certain time or you can put some kind of clawback clause in that reinstates the liens if certain benchmarks are not met by a certain time.

It is foolish to remove the lien without the guarantee of a successful project, but the lien also shouldn't hold up a developer from moving forward with a viable project. 

[marcuscnelson]

Frankly, I'd question letting Live Oak just buy Atkins out and potentially start this rigamarole all over again. If these buildings are as important as we feel they are it seems much more justified having an RFP process so we can see who is both willing and able to take on what would be a big job for anyone.

[jaxlongtimer]

Question, are or could these buildings be deemed national historic landmarks?  If so, would that open them up to Federal (assuming any are left after Trump's administration takes over) or State historic grants ?  How about money from private foundations if a nonprofit got involved?  Such funding could subsidize restoration to such an extent that whoever gets the grants could finance a purchase of the buildings from Adkins with the revenue, post-renovation, not having to also finance the full costs of renovations.

[thelakelander]

There's nothing national worthy making that site eligible for NHL status. Pursuing that type of designation is also like a 5 year process. However, the buildings are already eligible for state historic grants, etc....Although you'd need a bunch of grants to add up to the amount being requested from COJ. The issue here has been the developer not having the means to carry out a project this large without the city being the personal piggybank.

[marcuscnelson]

Rory Diamond declaring on Twitter that

It is past time to let the Laura Street Trio go.

They are nice buildings, but we don't have the money to save them.

These are the facts.

It's going to be demolished.

[Charles Hunter]

Frankly, I'd question letting Live Oak just buy Atkins out and potentially start this rigamarole all over again. If these buildings are as important as we feel they are it seems much more justified having an RFP process so we can see who is both willing and able to take on what would be a big job for anyone.

Can the City RFP private property? It seems the City would have to acquire the Trio before doing that.

[jaxlongtimer]

Rory Diamond declaring on Twitter that

It is past time to let the Laura Street Trio go.

They are nice buildings, but we don't have the money to save them.

These are the facts.

It's going to be demolished.

Not saying Adkins has the right plan.  But, if no matter the developer, it takes $x, then if we can find $1 billion for the stadium, $400 million for U2C or $100 million for 4 Seasons, I would rather spend the money saving these historic buildings over any of those projects.  Jax has lost too much of its historic character... we can't afford to lose any more.

I recall Diamond is against U2C... we should ask him to redirect some those dollars here as he gets U2C cancelled and solve 2 issues at once. 

[Ken_FSU]

Rory Diamond declaring on Twitter that

It is past time to let the Laura Street Trio go.

They are nice buildings, but we don't have the money to save them.

These are the facts.

It's going to be demolished.

I hope he doesn't push this agenda too hard at the zero Council meetings he attends. 

[thelakelander]

Diamond sounds pretty ignorant. What's his experience in the development world to know what can be rehabiliated and what can not?

[acme54321]

Frankly, I'd question letting Live Oak just buy Atkins out and potentially start this rigamarole all over again. If these buildings are as important as we feel they are it seems much more justified having an RFP process so we can see who is both willing and able to take on what would be a big job for anyone.

Can the City RFP private property? It seems the City would have to acquire the Trio before doing that.

Right.  You can't put out an RFP on property you don't control. 

[CityLife]

Frankly, I'd question letting Live Oak just buy Atkins out and potentially start this rigamarole all over again. If these buildings are as important as we feel they are it seems much more justified having an RFP process so we can see who is both willing and able to take on what would be a big job for anyone.

Can the City RFP private property? It seems the City would have to acquire the Trio before doing that.

Right.  You can't put out an RFP on property you don't control.

Correct, but the City is in the middle of foreclosure proceedings where it can potentially assume ownership of the Trio. At minimum, the City has the ability to dictate who can assume control of the Trio through the lien reduction process.  The City has at least $827k in code enforcement fines accruing on the property. The fines continue to accrue daily and whatever code violations there are still need to be remedied to stop the fines.

The City is in a position of power where it can potentially assume ownership of the Trio or at worst, dictate certain terms to whoever tries to assume control of the Trio. As I said earlier in the thread, the City ABSOLUTELY should not reduce the liens without legal guarantees that the buyer will actually develop the Trio. As part of that, the City will need to know what the incentive ask will be and what the final development program will look like.

Kudos to the Mayor for sticking to her guns and not rushing into a bad deal for the City.

Mayor Deegan: "Our commitment to preserving and protecting the Laura Street Trio has never wavered. However, we can't let this desire result in a deal that is fiscally irresponsible for taxpayers.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. In September, we agreed to terms with the current development team to withdraw the lawsuit. Those terms were immediately violated. The proposals that followed ballooned the city's financial commitment and risk exposure.

"The city has suffered through nearly a decade of failed proposals. This lawsuit has been the only thing that's moved the dial. Rushing to remove it on a 24-hour deadline would be counter-productive. We remain open to working with the City Council on viable options that will preserve these three historic buildings."

[Captain Zissou]

Diamond sounds pretty ignorant.

Diamond is pretty ignorant.  He knows nothing about urban development and what it means to preserve the urban fabric of a city.  His argument for the storage units at the most prominent intersection on the Southbank was "job creation". 

[marcuscnelson]

Frankly, I'd question letting Live Oak just buy Atkins out and potentially start this rigamarole all over again. If these buildings are as important as we feel they are it seems much more justified having an RFP process so we can see who is both willing and able to take on what would be a big job for anyone.

Can the City RFP private property? It seems the City would have to acquire the Trio before doing that.

Right.  You can't put out an RFP on property you don't control.

Like CityLife said, I'm suggesting the city complete the foreclosure process and then have an RFP after that.