by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Developer Ted Pappas exercised an option to buy from the City a tract of LaVilla land that clears the way for his group, LaVilla Partners, to build a new medical facility on the site of a historic hospital. But neighborhood advocates and City Council member Glorious Johnson say the City should take another look at a deal they call inconsistently negotiated and sloppily executed.
In asking for a General Counsel’s Office review, Johnson said the deal eventually reached by Pappas and the City differed from the deal approved by the City Council and and the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission. She said changes in the surveyed square footage and price per square foot had cost the City more than $36,000. According to the redevelopment agreement, any changes to the contract that cost the City need Council approval.
“It’s like everybody’s just doing their own thing,” said Johnson. “How are we supposed to tell people to follow our rules and regulations when we’re breaking our own rules and regulations?
“I think this is a sign of disrespect to the City Council to negotiate outside of what we approved. If you do it once and get away with it, you’re going to do it again.”
When the deal closed, Johnson said Pappas paid for 134,392 square feet of land, 3,712 square feet less than the developer’s original surveys on the land. That discrepancy cost the City $36,249.
Additionally, DDA meeting minutes from Sept. 14, 2000 show the developer agreed to pay $3 a square-foot for a parcel that ended up being sold for $2.50 per. Pappas bought both parcels for $449,028.50.
Johnson said she hasn’t heard from the General Counsel’s Office.
In a letter to Mayor John Peyton, LaVilla Partners attorney John Welch of Foley and Lardner questioned Johnson’s numbers. He was responding to a letter from historical preservation advocate Diane Melendez, who made many of the same points as Johnson in a separate letter to Peyton. He said the questioned per-foot price had always been $2.50 and said that price was included in the original redevelopment agreement.