City expresses reservations about Palm Avenue hotel

Earlier this year, city officials believed they were nearing an agreement on a land deal with Floridays Development Co., the group behind a hotel project next to the Palm Avenue garage.

But at Monday’s City Commission meeting, staff listed a series of lingering concerns that precluded the sale of the city-owned land incorporated into the project. Although Floridays representatives told planning officials they wished to close on a deal this summer, the city hadn’t seen any updated plans that suggested the developer was ready to obtain a full building permit.

In addition to decreased communication with the project representatives, other red flags emerged, according to Tim Litchet, the city’s general manager of neighborhood and development services. Perhaps most significantly, one of the contractors filed a $168,000 lien on the project site. 

“We had all this momentum,” Litchet said. “We were trying to get going, and it seems to have ceased or have gone backwards.”

"We’ve spent literally millions of dollars at this point. I want nothing more than to achieve the vision I’ve expressed to the city." — Angus Rogers

Representatives for the Floridays project appeared at Monday’s meeting to provide an update, assuring those in attendance that the boutique hotel development is still on track.

“We’ve spent literally millions of dollars at this point,” Floridays CEO Angus Rogers said. “I want nothing more than to achieve the vision I’ve expressed to the city.”

Despite the city’s concerns, architect Jonathan Parks said the group was in a position to submit all of the necessary material for the building permit.

“We’re coordinating the color of the tile in the pool,” Parks said. “We’re almost running out of stuff to do.”

The city affirmed it is still interested in proceeding with the agreement, which dates back to 2012. City Attorney Robert Fournier said if the issues aren’t addressed soon, the city could move to back out of the deal later this year.

“Either we report back that we’ve worked it out and we have an addendum (to the agreement) that’s mutually satisfactory, or we don’t,” Fournier said. “And if we don’t, it has to be on the table that we terminate the contract.”

Jim Dupre, manager of the holding group that would officially purchase the land, wasn’t concerned about the future of the 10-story, 180-room project. He said the issues in play could be before the commission’s Nov. 16 meeting and that his group could close on the property by the end of that week.

“All of the agreements are about to be signed, so everything is clear,” Dupre said. “There’s no other thing that can delay it — we’re just going to close and move on.”