And I still have eyes. That's all I see. Yeah. I mean, I've been on the street for 30 years on Tarpon Ave, and I don't know. I've seen it all. It's not good. Like, every staff member has a
pen, and that's in my office. But it's gotten better. But it used to be like that. And I don't want to go back to those days. I don't want any of that
stuff. I didn't call to order the Community Redevelopment Agency meeting for the downtown Tarpon Springs redevelopment area. Tuesday, October 7th, 6
p.m. Roll call, please. Mayor. Here. Vice mayor. Eisner here. Commissioner. Yes. Here. Commissioner. Donato here. Commissioner. Banther here.
Okay. So tonight, first, let me welcome all of you that came to support the various proposals that are being made. And those
of you that actually came or just came to observe the city at work, I also want to thank
the three applicants that have submitted proposals. It's it, you know, they have are making a a case to invest money in our
town to make our downtown a better place. So again, I want to thank them. And I'm going to ask that anyone who gets up and speaks is polite. And again,
this everyone who is again making the proposals are all here to make our town a better place. So again, I thank you. The way tonight's gonna work is
we're going to first have an introduction by the city manager, and then our procurement director, Janine Lewis. And then then we're
going to ask the three applicants to come forward with their presentations. They will take they can have up to 15 minutes each. They will they
can either they can come up to this podium, they can go to that one, whichever is more convenient for them. Then the commission will have questions
of each of the applicants. If we're the commission will have ten minutes each to ask questions and get answers back with again for all three
applicants. And then after all that has taken place, then we will have a public comment. So you will have public comment after you've heard all the
presentations. Then after that we will come back. After public comment, we will come back to the board for a motion. If one is made and seconded, then we
will then have discussion on our end here at the Commission, and then we will go to a vote. So I'm going to ask the City
Manager, Charles Rudd, to come up and do his introduction. Thank you, Mayor and commissioners, and welcome everyone as well. Tonight. I just wanted to say a few
remarks to sort of frame the discussion tonight before I turn it over to our procurement director to talk about the process we went through. And the first thing I wanted to do was to sort of represents the
master plan. We do have a downtown master plan that was adopted in 2001, and this project site is part of a larger vision for the downtown. And if if a kind of zoom in on
aerial, this is the Wells Fargo Bank just to orient you, the mayor's parking lot. Tarpon. And this is the subject property here. So in in the master plan, what's
contemplated is a parking structure with retail on the bottom that would run from the old city hall, the length of that block to provide for parking needs. That would allow us to turn Mears parking lot
back into Mears Park, a sort of a town square, if you will, which will help to engage the the spaces on the other side of Pinellas Avenue and bring them into the fold. And then it
shows that this block is infill. This is approximately the location of the subject property. So the purpose of tonight's meeting is to select a development team with whom
we'd like to proceed in negotiating. Tonight's not about negotiating the details of a particular project and what we'll be looking for at the end of the meeting is a
motion to accept or to amend and accept the staff recommendation for the ranking of the proposals, and to authorize the staff to begin negotiations with the top ranked development team. So
with that, I'll bring Janine if you'll come on up and explain the process. Thank you. Mayor,
board of commissioners, good evening. Very quickly, I'll just do a rehash of what has occurred. So on February 20th, 2025, the city hosted an
industry day where we invited the downtown vendors and interested parties to come and provide input into what they'd like to see as far as the solicitation and what should go
into the area to try and get a concept of the multi use of the property. We put together that information. We brought that back to the board on April 22nd
2025. We presented that and the board elected to let us go out with an invitation to negotiate, which is very similar to the RFP process where we had the ranking criteria. We looked at
the concept of the proposals to develop what we received from the submittals. So on April 27th, 2025, we posted the ITN
on our solicitation e procurement website, bonfire, and the proposals we received back on June 18th, 2025. We received three concepts for
this project. The city staff analyzed each proposal in accordance with the outlined criteria for feasibility and alignment with city and CRA objectives, with potential
impact on the community, the city staff evaluated and ranked each order that we would like to suggest to the board to recommend for negotiations to
begin with, the CRA board will consider and end can look at the rankings, confirm the order of the rankings. Approve that we order the rankings, defer a
decision, or reject all the proposals. If a firm is selected for negotiations, the concept must comply with all the city planning, building and permitting requirements,
including approvals by the Technical Review Committees, the Heritage Preservation Board, the Planning and Zoning Board, along with final CRA board and
the Board of Commissioners. Final agreement approval. Tonight's presentation process is an opportunity to see the presentation of the concepts and to allow the vendors to
describe their concept and how they see it as infill. Studio, LLC was considered the highly ranked proposal. We gave them the opportunity to select what order they wanted to present in,
so they will be going last this evening. Your first presenter will be the second ranked concept by Sandbar Architecture. The third ranked concept was
Smith Equity Builders will go second. And then finally Infill Studio again, reiterating they will have 15 minutes to provide the presentation with question and answer by the board after
and then public comment period. That is all. Are there any questions on this procedure? Okay. Let me see if I can pull
the. Agenda back up. So we have that available. Okay. So I will pull up and then hopefully Sandbar Architecture has
someone to click their slides. They can come forward. So.
Hopefully does that. Let me double check this very quickly. You can just scroll down through I believe okay. Is there a yeah the slide present
presenter okay. We'll get that fixed for you. Thank you. Excuse me. Okay. So you can
just use the mouse and scroll up and down with the button or I think you can. Yeah. Scroll up and down with the button.
Yep. All right. I can be heard okay. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Hi. We are honored to be standing here today to present our proposal for your. The
city's empty lot. And I want to put a lot of emphasis on your lot, because during this presentation, I would like to ask you to think and reflect on some of the following questions.
Which of the city's proposed ideas will bring the most value to the city, merchants and residents? Which has the best ability to increase foot traffic and increase increase
event activity? Before we get into the meat and potatoes of the presentation, I'd like to introduce the team behind it myself. Daniel and Steve are highly qualified team members
with many years of entrepreneurship, construction, project management, sales, and local ties to the community. Daniel owns an architecture firm, Sanaa Architecture, right on the main street. Steve
Tarpon, born and raised, has owned and operated several businesses in Tarpon and New Port Richey. I will have to make one of our partners. Steve was not able to make it here today because he had
pre-scheduled plans for his 24th 21st wedding anniversary. All right. So. We are creating
a family friendly atmosphere. The entire project was designed with families in mind. We wanted to create a space where people of all ages are welcome and comfortable. The open central courtyard and flexible
event spaces encourage families to gather, relax and enjoy time together. Whether you're just a resident or visiting Tarpon Springs, this truly was a community driven design. We explored many different designs
for the space, but what you see here is truly inspired by the people of Tarpon. Through conversations, feedbacks and feedback from the community, we listen to. Your ideas adapted to the plans reflect what
matters most to you. This is not just a new destination. It's a reflection of the community's voice and vision. Our plan is to bring people together, support local entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship, affordable
micro retail, stage venues, a beer garden, dining units were all part of the plan to lower the cost for local entrepreneurs and small businesses. We want to encourage new ventures while supporting existing businesses,
helping to grow the local economy. Year round. Activity with flexible event programing, the space will stay active and lively throughout the year, ensuring that there's always something happening for
families and visitors to enjoy. Weekly farmer's markets, sundown yoga, running clubs, puppy meetups, kids activities
and more. We envision this project as an important component that will be used to further the goals of Tarpon Springs strategic plan. While
downtown Tarpon is bookended by alternate 19 and the Pinellas Trail, the mid block connections are vital to creating a pedestrian friendly downtown consistent with the
Strategic Strategic Plan goal B three residents are aware that increased future parking is planned for the south side of East Court Street. As was mentioned earlier today, visitors to our city will
necessarily begin their experiences while visiting our downtown there. Our proposal is to create an inviting, park like atmosphere. The open air concept is intended to welcome
all visitors to downtown through the Agora, as a gateway to the city for those visitors. Our belief is that these mid-block pedestrian pathways will activate both East Court
Street and East Orange streets, as well as the obvious enhancement to East Tarpon Avenue. We are already realizing the potential for activation on East Orange Street, with the addition of
the proposed event venue directly behind coach, by creating a destination, we have developed a solution that is intended to benefit all downtown merchants and business owners. People will be
encouraged to linger, eat, shop and play at our many existing and new downtown businesses. The benefit thus furthers the Smart Growth and Redevelopment initiative by expanding and
diversifying local employment opportunities in accordance with Comprehensive Plan Goal D one for residents, we are furthering the opportunity for lifelong community resource that can meet the daily needs
of our friends and neighbors in accordance with Comprehensive Plan goal D three. This will translate to increased opportunity for the merchants
and increased property values for building owners. So as you can see, the vision behind
Agora Downtown is to create a space that truly serves everyone. The name Agora Down South itself has roots, heritage, roots and heritage. Agora meaning marketplace community. This will be a
regional destination for all, not just for Tarpon Springs. It's meant to be a regional draw, welcoming people from neighboring neighborhoods and beyond by honoring Tarpon Springs Greek heritage and creating a vibrant open air
marketplace, we were building something unique that everyone can enjoy. We're adding a safe, pedestrian friendly feature right in the heart of downtown, making it easier for people to walk, explore, and experience all that Tarpon has to offer.
The walkability encourages visitors to linger, discover new shops, and support local merchants. Our aim is to boost downtown business by increasing foot traffic. We're going to
get a little bit more into the numbers of how we're going to be increasing this foot traffic. We're aiming to lift all downtown merchants, more visitors, more opportunities to every business to thrive. The
mix of 17 micro retail shops, dining and event space creates a dynamic environment where local entrepreneurs can thrive, supporting events and parking. This project will also help free up parking that's often
occupied downtown by downtown events. We propose relocating event activity here. If we do this, we will gain approximately 42 extra parking spaces at the southeast corner of alternate 19 and Tarpon
Avenue during smaller events. Now, if the city will let us work, we're committed to continuing the beloved traditions like First Friday and Snow Place in the area,
ensuring that there's always something happening for the community. Part of our our inspirations came from Sparkman's Wharf and Crate.
These are local. These are local concepts that have proven successful. And, you know, both of these projects have transformed underused urban
areas into regional destinations. We would like to give you a quick primer about our design before we discuss
more specific characteristics. First, the site has the unique opportunity to develop a dual facade that fronts both Tarpon Avenue and Court Street. We can welcome people through from
both the north and the south of our site. The open air environment will provide a park like feel to enhance the to enhance the feeling of community and to provide
visitors the opportunity to mingle and build relationships through the smart selection of materials, we are promoting sustainable development that takes advantage of both repurposed and local materials
that are highly weathered and insect resistant. During construction, there will be minimal disruptions to downtown, since large portions of the work can be constructed off
site. The design is contextual, taking cues from history and surrounding environment to tell a story about Tarpon Springs and more specifically, this site. We made bold design
choices rather than safe generic designs developed in the past. Proposal responses to the city RFP for this very site, which ultimately failed to be realized on this site, our goal
was to create a Tarpon centric design. We did not want another design that could be on any site in any town, USA. Our
driver is to support the local Tarpon community, bringing in more money, more jobs and more visitors. The majority of the money allocated for construction will remain in Tarpon, both with firms and residents. Our events, like the
weekly Farmers market, art shows and concerts will help drive this initiative. We are choosing food vendors that are not competing with local
merchants. Through the repurposing of shipping containers, we are helping to redirect waste to upcycle them for our current need. There are not only weather resistant and
insect resistant, they are highly impervious to hurricane force winds and flooding. It's possible that the big one ever came through tarpon, that this will be the last building left standing. Additional natural
shading is proposed with the inclusion of of a mature olive tree, which in Greece symbolizes friendship, peace, abundance and longevity. Grass in the courtyard minimizes the heat island effect that would
otherwise be experienced with hardscape materials such as concrete, stone, brick, and asphalt. The extra load bearing capacity of the containers permit the option of adding solar power to the development,
without the fear of avoiding roof manufacturers warranties. This project was recently brought up by the Tarpon Sustainability Committee. They recognized the inherent value of the sustainable features we
included in our project planning. Before we ever said a word about it. We want the community to know that we are listening. This is city property. We are doing our best to create a sustainable
development that can last for years to come, which also meets the needs of tarpon. We did our
homework. What you see before you are the hardware stores that were owned by Mr. G. E Noblett. The building on the upper left was the original building on our site. It features a two story design,
columns that extend an upper deck over the street, a lean to roof that defines and provides shade for the upper level deck, a parapet with simple detailing surrounding the roof. The
building on the lower right. That one was never on the site. It was, however, also owned by Mr. Noblett on Safford Avenue. It features a two story design, columns that support an upper
level deck, horizontal siding, and an extension of the roof for shade. What you see before
you are the facades that are reminiscent of the hardware stores that were owned by Mr. Noblett. The building on the upper left tells a story about the original building on our site. It features a two story
design, columns that extend to an upper deck over the street, lighting that defines and provides a canopy for the upper level deck that helps stay true to the original scale and proportions. A parapet with
simple detailing surrounds the roof. The building on the lower right speaks to Mr. Noblet's previous hardware store on Safford. It features a two story design, an upper level
deck horizontal siding that was, as was on the original, and an extension of the roof for shade. The signage is inspired by the railroad signage to remind us of the beginnings of the
Pinellas Trail, and the work that brought Mr. Noblett to Pinellas County. We intend to
use this building to educate visitors about Tarpon Springs and this site. Our proposal will be to partner with Tarpon Springs Historical Society to predominantly display educational material and
artifacts, to teach and remind us about the Tarpon Springs heritage that deserves a place of honor downtown. These gestures protect the city's unique cultural heritage and
identity through a smart design that incorporates historic community characteristics, which furthers the comprehensive plan goals both
C1 and C2. Why will a downtown help bring more visitors? Again, focusing on the events that we have on the weekly markets and the open air concept, as well
as all the shops, this will act as a conduit to connect roads and connect and connect with sponge docks to bring tourists further into the city. Currently, the Sponge Docks has
approximately 64,000 visit more visitors a month. We aim to siphon and not siphon, but share and bring those visitors into the city when they they when they visit the downtown
sponge docks. This will bring in more foot traffic and add longer stays. An estimate we are estimating by the market research data, the visitor information that this project
will bring anywhere from 25 to 35,000 extra visitors a month. A big shout out to Mary Giuliano and his Big Blue is Blue City initiative. Trying to
make the city more healthy. This acted as an inspiration to bring in our weekly farmers markets. This alone will add significant foot traffic again, focusing on keeping events like First Friday and Snow Place is a huge advantage with our
offering as well. We'll have public bathrooms available outdoors that will be maintained by us. Considering the Tarpon Merchant Association and Chamber, where events and increased membership are concerned, Agora can act as a
potential generator for both event revenue and membership revenue. Looking at this slide, I think it pretty much says it all. Our design allows construction off site for a
fast build compared to years long building of hotel or or other building construction. We're keeping it locally, historically and culturally aligned. Our construction and
design. We have the ability to adapt and grow as the market sees fit. And a year or two will the demand call for an air BNB. That will not be a problem, because we have the entire second story that we can add on
quickly. Maybe we'll need office spaces that still will not be an issue. We are built to adapt and grow. We are not just a project, it's a platform for continued growth, ensuring
downtown stays vibrant for years to come. So at this point we should be up against our 15 minutes. I'd like to take you through a few slides of
renderings, really, that show what the project will look like. I do want to point out that these stores, they do have names on them. The names are not random. They're inspired by
people that have reached out to us who have said that if we do end up building this project, they would be happy to be potential tenants within this
project. Here, people that need incubators for their for their businesses, they need a small space, not necessarily a large one. And you'll notice right
here to the right hand side, you know, being front and center downtown, we would propose moving a visitor center here. We know that the visitor numbers are important to Tarpon
Springs and some of the funding through through Pinellas County
that comes to Tarpon. The names of the businesses are, you know, they're not exactly the same as
what the current business owners have. We've changed them to protect the innocent. But.
We try to be creative with them. Thank you for your time. Is
your 15 minutes are up? Do you have any final comment you want to make before we go to questions? Thank you for your attention and thank everybody else for any comments that they've had leading up to this.
It's really been helpful experience for us. I want to thank you as well. Thank you. Commissioner Banther, do you have any questions? Yes. Thank you. I want to thank you all, first of all for your efforts.
You have you have put into this. I think it's a really neat concept that that that you that that you have proposed in and of itself. I'd probably be be, be, be very attracted to it. My
concern is the the use of shipping containers in downtown, obviously. How do you balance that with our, you know, historic district and the surrounding buildings? The
architect of this one. Yeah, yeah, I understand it's a novel idea for downtown Tarpon Springs. You know, you can see by the examples that we gave, it's been done elsewhere. The
facades would be treated as, as any other building would to be sensitive to the downtown heritage district requirements. And, you know, as a matter of fact, we we understand completely that we will have to
go through a process to, to please them as well. So, you know, the the fact that they are shipping containers from the outside would be concealed by the facades that are applied
to the exterior of them. And as you can see through the renderings of the interior, the facades of the containers on the interior can be treated in
any number of ways. They can be customized to the tenant. You know each module differently. They can be. They can be brought out, reconstructed as needed. So it's a highly
adaptable format. I really do like how you connect Court Street and and Tarpon Avenue. What would be your plan for keeping people from loitering using the bathrooms? That that shouldn't be things like that.
Yeah. We would need to provide security and, you know, some sort of some sort of physical gate with it. It didn't make the renderings and I apologize for that, but it is something
that we thought about. Yes. All right. Thank you. Commissioner De Donato, I just want to thank you for being here and showing your interest and and
developing, helping develop us along the street. I'm going to listen to all three presentations and may have questions at the end, but I just want to thank you personally. Thank you. Thank
you, Commissioner Coleus. Thank you. Thank you both for the presentation. You mentioned a few things, and I like the open concept of the one side. It's very open. Have you spoken with
the Historical Society for a group effort and what you were stating? No. Okay. I just because just because they're right next door, a couple blocks, you know, couple shops
over. Yeah. As I stated. And I want you to be able to utilize the property to its fullest potential for commerce, you know. So. You mentioned that if
given the opportunity, you could build a little bit higher with, you know, a couple different things. Have you I guess I'm assuming you've architecturally designed that
right now to be able to potentially add on top, if given the codes and some different incentives? Yeah, yeah. If you could imagine a barge and the number of
containers that they could stack fully loaded on top of each other, you know, these things hold about 180,000 pounds each. The strength is compromised whenever you cut in
openings, but that can be mitigated by proper engineering. So, you know, we could design this easily to hold another two stories if we wanted to. And if given that opportunity, you
would stay with the crate option and just try to get more business. Would you try to think of any anything else you could bring in or any other ideas? You know, this this
being flexible, you know it. Who knows what the future could hold. You know it could hold a whole new roof structure for this thing. You know, a whole, you know, whole, you know, upper story level. I don't
think a third story is necessarily complementary to downtown, given the scale of downtown. But, you know, it's just like any construction there. There's a number of
options that you could exercise once it's in place if you need to. Okay. And this presentation is what is your assumption on the property. Are you going to purchase the property or you
think it's going to be given given to the applicant? I mean what is your when you presented this, what were you considering and incentives or not? So for
the property we're asking that the property be given to us in exchange for this. I know the terms are a little bit different than the other two, but I don't think it's that far
off from what the other proposers are asking. Okay. I like the concept. I'm not sure about, you know, all the crates
your presentation shows them look a lot more finished off and they look like storefronts to me as opposed to crates. So they, you know, it looks the presentation looks sharp. I'd
like to see some more shade. And I don't think that would even be an issue if you're if your application was chosen because those just those two triangles aren't enough for that type of heat, you know,
seven, eight, nine months out of the year. So I like the idea. Thank you for the presentation. And I'll just I'll reserve my comments for the end. Thank you
sir. Thank you. Vice Mayor. Thank you mayor. I think your last to speak correct mayor I will. So it was interesting. I
agreed with what Commissioner Banther asked. I'm going to ask it a little different. How do you deal with the night security? Like I said, we we'd have to have some sort of
physical barrier. As with the other projects as well, we would have to have a gate that would be closed at night. We'd have hours of operation that the tenants would have to stick
to, where we would open and close at regular times in order to manage that. Would everybody have access to the gate? All the. You have 17 different
locations. Everybody would have access to that. It may be something like coach has where there's a FOB system that, you know, fobs people in and out and they can track who has come
in and out at certain times. There's some very sophisticated ways to handle that electronically. So I like the idea. I love the adaptability
that you have. But in this town, we as everybody knows, we have quite a few open stores right now. How do you feel? 17 of
them right there. Well, Steve, who I wish was here, we told him to go on his anniversary trip because I agree with you.
Yeah. Families are important, but, you know, he had Ricky, for example, which was, you know, Multi-tenanted in the same way had had a lot of small
tenants that was filled. You know, there's another building that he had owned on on 19, which was also filled it. It takes work by the landlord to
market it and get people in. But, you know, right now, without doing that work, we have we have all of them virtually filled with people
that are interested in being in this particular development. See, that's the that's the thing that I have. I mean, with each development that I mean, I
guess the whole board looked at and looked I looked at I have concerns about not having 16 available openings in one
filled. That would be, you know, a horror show. And that's that's one of the things that I, you know, consider because it is it's a lot in one spot. I
would I would characterize that by, you know, saying we can either have a scarcity mentality or a mentality of, of abundance, you know, and, and
attraction. So, you know, we're proposing something that we feel is going to attract people to downtown, attract people to want to do more business downtown and attract people to
want to incubate their businesses in downtown. The smaller spaces are great incubators for people that, you know, they can't afford 2500ft■S
for their first, for their first venture. You know, maybe one of these will fit. Their need is budget friendly for them. And so that helps them to
to have to lower the barrier of entry for their business. And, you know, we think that that's a good thing for the economy. So I presume this is going to be a question for Steve who's
not here. Did you do a a bit of a survey to find out the rents of what Tarpon Avenue is versus what this would be? Yeah, I've paid rent on Tarpon Avenue. And
I have friends paying rent on Tarpon Avenue, so I'm fairly familiar with what the rates are and the range. So but this would be, you know, more economical is what you're
saying, due to the lower amount of square footage that they're getting, you know, it might be on a square foot basis, a little bit higher than, you know, a larger storefront. But
we think that, you know, the the bottom line number for the tenant will still be attractive, even given that premium, who's
going to pay for the maintenance of this grass? And, you know, whatever, you're going to need painting because you'll have 17. Is this going to be like a homeowner's
association, a co-op, or is it going to be a managing agent that deals with this? We would we would have to deal with that and manage it. Okay. One last
question. If you were to get my vote, would you also consider possibly moving that Agora sign
and your whole structure back 15 20ft? Because I'm going to ask this of everybody. I do have a bit of a proposal that we're not at yet, so I'm just
curious if I won't have that ability to ask you that again. So would you be considering a keeping what you have, but moving it back to where there's
a open seating area in the front? We assumed that the design is not done yet, that there would be negotiations with with both you and the the
Heritage Commission. So, you know, by no means did we think that we were finished because we haven't had the ability to, you know, properly interact with the city officials. So
back to your adaptability, I appreciate that. Thank you. I appreciate what you delivered. Truthfully, your presentation was better than what you know,
we got to see, you know, in in the original proposal. So I'm glad that, you know, we got to see this and thank you both and thanks, Steve. And hope he's enjoying his anniversary. Thank
you. Thank you. You know, this is it's an exciting idea and it's a very innovative. Let me ask you, I just have two
questions. Are these modules these container units movable? They would be secured, but
could they be reconfigured or not? They could that. You know, just like just like anything you could you could disassemble them if you wanted to and move
them around if necessary. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Do you have any idea what the. And again I know you're this is really premature but I'm sure you've
you've obviously done some mathematical homework on this to know whether it's viable or not. So what do you believe your total cost would be in
this project? Yeah. About, you know, 1.8 to 2.2 million in that range. Okay. Thank you,
thank you. Okay. So we're now going to go. Thank you very much. We are now going to go to
the Smith Equity Builders for their presentation. On their.
Downtown. Hello. Hello. Is this your. Is this what you're
working for okay. Cool. The button scrolls. Okay. Good
evening. Commissioners, the staff and the public. It's a great opportunity to meet with you. And I apologize for my
dress. I my suits all got wiped out in the storm, and I'm not sure I need to replace them, but. But thanks for your service. I know this is a very,
extremely and time consuming process, and there's a long history in Tarpon. There's a long history on this project, and I have a long history in
tarpon, and I have a long history on projects. It's a very special town. That's why we're all here. I've been
giving you 15 minutes to tell a 40 year story. But I'll just say that I'm going to do my
best. I know what I'm supposed to do is tell you what I'm going to tell you. Tell you, and then tell you what I told you. And I don't think I'm going to get to the third part,
but. I don't want to talk too much about myself. Some of you know me. Some of you don't. But it's important to understand how I got here and how I got
ranked third, which I have to defend because it's competition after all, right? I've been paid my entire career to pull
off projects, and this one is very personal to me because it's our project. And I've been in Tarpon Springs since 1998, and my three children went to
Brooker Creek and Tarpon Middle and Eastlake High, and they loved tarpon, and I love tarpon, and you all love tarpon. And. I
like all the proposals. I'm a student of design. I, I know Dan, I think I think I showed Dan my proposal from 2018, which I basically regurgitated
because I still think it's the best plan. It's a civic plan. It's not a bar. It's not, it's it's it's it's basically it's pass through between Tarpon
Avenue and Court Street. But it also has something very important. It has a hook. And the hook is this little tower where you can see all the way from Anclote to Tarpon, because
I think as a guy that grew up everywhere. You know, you want to get some visual and people get lost in my neighborhood over there trying to find the
beach and trying to find the sponge docks. And I think. Manager Rudd finally got the signage package going, which is
helpful, but so I started Smith Equity in 2001, and my office was right on Lemon Street, and I wandered into the post office and there was a booklet there,
and it showed the future of tarpon, and it was done by Renaissance Planning. And I said, man, this is pretty cool.
And and it was a framework for setting policy and adopting a new code, which Doctor Vincent will tell you went on from 2004
to 2013, nine years to pass a smart code. And the smart code is very smart, actually. And. It's got a bunch. It's got a bunch of tables, it's got form
based. It's done. It was done by a planner named platter, who was famous for. Up there in In the Panhandle, watercolors and
others. But he was Miami planner and very good planner, and but he basically gave this code for the city to look at and developed five transect
zones, one being rural and five being downtown density and everything in between. And it's a good, good code. And of course, the modifications you make to it as a city is what is
what really is important. So without too much for that, I know that Matt here is going to tell you about the building. And I'm going to tell you a
little bit about Matt. And and then I'm going to tell you a little bit about the extra credit that I submitted, which was what I thought I read
Everybody Wanted, which is downtown parking and a boutique hotel, because I've owned this beautiful lot, been mowing the lawn for 20 years now, and I'd
really like to give Tarpon a beautiful project. And I think that this project and that project is very important. And I think what's very important
is to not. Kill the ambiance of the surface lot and the back of the train station because the scale is wrong. It's a beautiful scale. And I thought
I the slide Mr. Rudd put up is the first time I've seen it. So we don't know that there's a master plan. Daniel must have known because he's got a parking structure there. I
didn't know. You don't know? It's never been on Connect Tarpon. It's a little bit disconnected, but the bottom line is, I've proposed a beautiful civic building that Matt's going to tell you about,
and. And I proposed a bolt on project to get them all done at once and do something big and impactful, and includes an attraction. It includes a great opportunity similar to Dan's,
where we do invite several new businesses. Small micro retail. Call it what you want. Matt will describe it and then and then try to pull this off as a
city. So. You know, I got to Tarpon. My grandmother was Cecile. Capicchioni Ciampoli
Orsini Smith, and she was from Wildwood, new Jersey, and she had to make all her money in three months, which is similar to what you all face as merchants. And I learned and
she used to have me drive her Lincoln down here because she hung out in Saint Pete and Treasure Island. So I've been studying this area for a long time, and I understand the resort business and I built, I
don't know, several billion dollars worth of resorts for smart, capital driven visionaries. And it's been fun. It's been a great career. And
and I'm here and I'm old and I'm just trying to do something nice with what I've learned. So. So I will tell you that I do have the right experience for
this. And, and then I think it's important for Matt to speak about the function of this building we're proposing now. We didn't do the pretty pictures because I am trained
to show the function. Get the org right, find your target. Whether it's Disney or Whole Foods. And then you do the architecture so I can do the architecture. I love the pretty
pictures. I don't know about the front page. It says the Future Tarpon Tattoo parlor and nothing against tattoos, but I didn't see that. And I understand shipping containers and I understand why. Sparkman
Wharf is Sparkman Wharf. It's Mark Sparkman's Wharf because it's a port lease. And Channelside failed. And I was involved with one of those failed projects in Hawaii
called Aloha Tower because it was a state lease. So you have to be very careful. You've waited a long time for something special on the site, and I just I'm not here to tell
you to select mine. I'm here to tell and ask the commission to take a step back and just let's talk about all of them, because
15 minutes isn't going to do it. But with that, I want to introduce you to Matt Allman. He's a Tarpon kid. He was a friend of my son's and went to Brooker Creek together. But
he's also a professional engineer, and he's the one that used to come to my office on Lemmon and look at all the drawings and ask me intelligent questions. And all the other
kids wanted to know where we were getting lunch, you know? So Matt is I was very lucky to have Matt here. We have a big team. I didn't want to ask
everybody to come from Hawaii and other places to watch me get killed for the 18th time, but. But Matt's going to tell you about it. He's a very smart
guy. He he actually drew this with me in 2018. And so he's going to describe the function of the building. All right. So
let me start there Matt. Appreciate it. Hello commissioners. Appreciate you having us here. Wanted to talk through just the overall picture here. And this you know
again just a basic rendering like Steve mentioned, to allow further discussions about how we want to shape this overall plan together. So the overall
idea is, is similar to what we saw with the first presentation there. First floor is going to be shops. You know about the current rendering has
approximately 16 shops, 300ft■!S apiece. That would also involve, you know, bathrooms, a potential for a police substation for security purposes and other means. And
then the second floor of things is just an open type courtyard design. So the intention is there's 53 events per year and in Tarpon Springs. So we want
to open up that space, expand that space and allow, you know, future growth of that with the city in mind. And Steve mentioned, you know, the the big thing what we're after with
this plan is, is a hook. You know what what is something that people will talk about. What is something that will drive visitors to this one, 44
Tarpon Avenue. And that idea is the color color series a tower. So welcome tower, so to speak, here. So the thought of it is, is that will give a bird's eye
view of the area. It stands about 53ft is the top platform height. So standing height is, you know, a little bit higher, just shy of 60ft. We went ahead and we looked at what are some
of the surrounding architecture. Because, you know, we didn't want to overshadow the Saint Nicholas Cathedral, that that remains higher than what that tower would be. But the big
thing we want to show is, you know, you go to the top of that tower, you can see the sponge docks, you can see Lake Tarpon, you can see Fred Howard Beach, you know, you can you can see the surrounding area from from
the top. So, you know, I heard a question about how do you fill tenant space. And I think that's that's a very valid question. So having the hook, having the tower is central to driving. If you're going to
have a lot of foot traffic for that, you're going to automatically have more interest in renting out those those shop spaces. These are couple couple additional
elevations here a couple of plan views. We can we can look through. So here would be the first floor about 4800ft■!S totl shop spaces. We broke it in
initially here 20 by 15. Shop space a piece. So you can imagine 1 or 2 of these would probably be retrofitted to to public bathrooms. Either the temporary kiosks could be
security police substation, you name it. And then you see there's a couple stairwells up to the second floor area that are involved with the with the actual tower space. So looking
at a second plan, second floor view here, it's a covered balcony area. So an open space concept, but it offers about
3500ft■!S, give or take, of just open space. So if you want to talk a farmer's market, tent space, you name it, you know, you could set up really have an
open concept for whatever would be whatever the event needs in that certain scenario. And of course, the big drive there on Court Street is that tower
elevation that that we're looking at. So, you know, that's that to us is a better rendering through here. That to us is the is the main driver
again architecturally. You know, we put a couple concepts in here to show, you know, the overall idea, you know gold plated kind of roof we thought would fit in nicely with with
tarpon brick facade but again open to communication and you know historical society and what have you to determine, you know, what would look best in
this actual space. Couple couple more elevations there. Just just to highlight the overall view here. So this nice
visual aid, this gives you an idea of what the horizon limit from that top of the tower would be. So you can see a nice nice bird's eye view, you know, not of just tarpon itself all
the way out to the the barrier beaches there and east across Lake Tarpon. This here just gives a concept scale to show
top of Saint Nicholas Cathedral. There's is about 70ft top of the antenna, give or take. So from a skyline view we would not be we would not overshadow,
of course, that important monument here. See, Steve, you want to go through some of the
items here. Yep. Thanks, man. So the concept. Is math, right? You have to have a plan that
matches math, that matches someone like Disney that wants to promote it and pay for it. We don't we don't have Disney here, but we can find someone. I know that Tampa just got a
$20 million Ferris wheel. If none of you have heard this because it's an attraction, we're always talking about airlift body heat feed on the
street. I mean, this is what drives development, right? How do you do it? I think Tarpon is is a beautiful downtown. I think it's a very short downtown compared to Dunedin. I
think the people use your surface lot to park and then ride to Dunedin, because I've watched it so, so, so the surface lot, there is actually
a really key piece to this whole thing, and I think it'd be a shame to even think about putting a parking structure there. But but I think because it's a nice park unto itself,
if you want to use it as such. And the scale is is beautiful. So you want to take parking away. We call proximate parking. So so the site I proposed, which is mine down the street
as part of this whole deal, is about 100ft away. So it's been done in Dunedin. It's been done. The cities are behind parking. I worked on the South Regional garage, city back parking to
get the lightning in place. Back in 98. Both Ybor garages, one for Hillsborough County for the community college, one for the Sembler Steiner. So I, I
apologize 15. Yeah. You're 15. That's it. Yeah. Are you are you ready to answer questions? Yes, sir, I am okay, I'm going
to leave this up while we talk. Let me, let me. I'll go ahead and get started here. I'm going to ask you the same question. What is the total? What do you
believe the total cost of your project is? 2.5 million. 3 million. Okay, I think the numbers are in there. To answer
you specifically, right here, 3.4 is the value created. The cost is 2828. What what's the cost? 2828 is the cost right.
And the value creation what we call is potentially 3.4 million. Thank you. Commissioner Banther. Do you have any questions. Yes. Thank you. And I believe you know, I've had several rounds
with you in the past here coming up before us. So thank you for I never met you, Mr. Commissioner, but I'm sorry I never met you. But we. I feel like I know you. I think I recall you back to my heritage
board days in, like, 8 or 9. So could you clarify again the how this is tying in with a personal property of yours and how that's planned to work,
please? Sure. Thank you. Let's go back to that work chart. So basically there's there's three components to the one for four project that's beige. And the
component is artistic retail what we'll call they've called micro retail. It's a good concept brings a lot of people in the tower. And the second floor covered space. What I
proposed with that alone was simply let's talk about who should own it and who should operate it. I think the chamber ought to operate the second floor. I think I'd like to put
a toll gate on the tower so that, you know, for years my grand. But I think the city needs to understand that there's ways to pay for it. There's bed tax money, you know, a million ways to pay for that
attraction. And I don't think the rays are getting the 500 million. So there might be a lot of money out there. But so what I so basically that team is for discussion who owns it and who operates it. We're
always after the right operator. You got some good operators in the city. I don't I don't want to be an operator, but I want to make sure the project is set
up with the operator in mind. So on the right, the pink stuff, there's four components to the project that I've been proposing, which is actually
scheme nine. Okay. But but when I, when I bought it in oh four it was always scheme one. I still haven't drawn it, I have it there's sketches in here. Why do the pretty picture.
Because it seems like all my color stuff goes right in the trash for some reason, but that is for components. Is the parking structure right, everybody? Saint Pete, Pinellas, Clearwater they're all buying
parking to induce development. Okay. So in the city should be in the business of parking. You're not. Right. So the parking structure I proposed as city owned and city operated
the boutique hotel. It depends on what you guys do with the parking and the and the is college housing potentially.
I'd love to see. I tried to get Saint Pete College in oh four, and they were on board with Elon and Mayor Bill Harris, and David Archie stood in the way of opening up distant to
Belcher. And W.F. is workforce housing. I mean, this is what police, nurses, people need. The older you get, you want to
live alone. You just want 600ft, a little mini kitchens, you can go to work. Right. So that's that combination of that depends on on this and the
units and bonus densities and definition of Adu, which I have issue with. The artistic retail is basically just a strip along lemon in front of this Decker.
This is this a continuation of your answering this question? David, what was your question? I'm sorry, I was wondering how related how his you know, I know that I know that his personal property is tied into
this to to this proposal somehow. And getting into the financial aspect of how you plan to do this. So that's basically it. You have another strip of retail for components. There are three components here.
It's for us to talk about okay. That's it. Thank you. And it's I think it's I think we all need we all know we need parking. Yes. We don't we don't need buildings that will take away parking. All right. Thank
you. Yes. Commissioner Donato, do you have any questions? Again I want to thank you for for being here. And and again, we'll listen to all three proposals before I really have questions. But thank you very
much. Thank you. Commissioner. Commissioner coleus, thank you. I had a chance to meet Mr. Graham over at Graham at his property, and he showed me some
of these presentations, as well as different ideas for the one property on the southeast corner of Lemon and Dustin. I
believe I like the presentation. I'm just and I understand your your perspective, sir, about, you know, you're presenting a concept with, you know, and getting into the details and
the, the fine, you know, it's something that comes after with your professionalism. It's just it's I like I like the open air
concept. I really like the open air on the second floor with the roof. I think that's something that all applicants that's, you know, one way or another could incorporate for some type of event space bar,
you know, restaurant, something, you know. You mentioned the the micro retail and stuff. My concern is the towers are a
good idea. It will attract people. But I do have concerns of it even coming close to the height of the Saint Nicolas Tower. You know, the Saint Nicholas bell Tower, that's, you know, I don't think anything should compete with
that within a relative distance of it, you know. But that's something, if chosen, we could I'm sure we could work with. You had mentioned pretty much
letting the chamber deal with some of the property or what are you referring to? The second floor, as in different events they want to have there? Or could you explain that a
little bit more, sir? Well, I, I should know this, but I don't I assume the chamber is the one that rents out the the tents on first Friday on the street. The merchants, the merchant
association. See, I don't even know one of those two should operate this space, because I see it as a way to grow that first Friday event. Right. And and then put some more, you
know, kiosks, tables up there basically. So, so the concept is do that. The code allows you 2 to 3 stories in that area. So you know, we could always do something else. But of course
the more you add the more parking you need. Sure. What my argument is with anybody on this board that all these, all these applications don't have to require parking due to the
area that they're in in this, you know, and depending on what day it is, I don't know what we'll get from everybody. But that talks about parking isn't required for what you're trying
to build in that section. So I want to see the best, most, you know, utilized for for the property. I, I just wish there was different renderings for the front entrance and the back
entrance. Just to just to give us an idea of what your ability is. But as you presented it, it was with the codes that we currently have in place, and maybe you had it in the backup
and I just overlooked it. But what is your intention on the property itself? Do you do you expect to get it given by the city? Is there you know, is there what's price in buying it
built in? Well, the appraisal was 317,000. And I mentioned that in the proforma. And my goal is for you to build equity
in that property. Don't give it away for a buck. Don't give it away for 20 grand. And let's figure out how you perpetuate that cash flow by being a part of that project. That's a
public private partnership. This was an invitation to negotiate a public private partnership. So that's what I'm trying to do. So I so to answer your question, I think that the
if you if the city gets behind a project, I can tell you this, it's worth a lot more if the city fights you on a project. Everybody laughs. But so so I think that this is a very
valuable piece. I don't think you should put shipping containers on it. I'm not sure you should stick to two stories. I'm sure you need a hook. I'm
sure you, in this day and age, be nice to have a police substation because, you know, it's becoming a crazy world. But yeah, the idea is to figure
out the math, which I've included as a as a guideline, right, somewhere. And, and then figure out how we get you money. I put right up here a blank
317,000 appraisal. But I don't know what the merchant association told me. What those tents are worth. They're worth 40 bucks times. 16 times, times
nine first Fridays. Or there's other. How many of the 53 events occur downtown? So we just need to sit down, roll up the sleeves, do the math, and
say, this is crazy, but I love it, right? Or this makes sense, which I think we'll find, I really do. I wouldn't be here. So yeah. So $317,000 is the
appraisal on that property. And I can tell you they keep raising my property taxes. The appraisals on these buildings in this area are going up and up and up. The tarpons of you
know, everybody knew it. We all knew. It's beautiful. It's just how much taxes, you know. So we're trying to generate tax base right. The CRA I don't know if anybody knows this
question I was going to look it up. I believe the CRA generates from the last report like $400,000 a year. This project will bring half $1 million a year in property tax revenue,
not merchant revenue, not sales tax revenue. So if you want to look at revenue, there's no there's you got to go big right. So does that answer your
question. Yes it does. Thank you. I'm happy to do renderings. We can do a million renderings I just as you can see these plans are from 2018. I wasn't embarrassed to leave them dated
2018, but. And I did some enhancements only as to the numbers and the and the approach. But but we can do renderings. Those are easy. That's the fun part. You know,
on that org chart I had Chris Stills, who if you all know him, he's the Michelangelo of Florida. And you know, Chris, Chris will help us design.
We'll get some pretty pictures. He's he's not a cheap guy, but you know, the flavor of it, the texture, the shape, the all that comes after this. Right?
It comes after. Yeah. We got everything we need. We have the components we need. We've costed it. This is who's going to own what this is, who's going to operate what. And
let's do it big. Let's do one project. Let's not lose a year trying to pull off a small project. Right. And and again, I love all the designs and I know do you feel your question
was answered, Commissioner? Do you feel like your question was answered? Yeah. Okay. If you need 20 more seconds to wrap it up. No, I mean, listen, I'd like to talk for 14 years, but
I think I, you know, I'm here to challenge you as a commission to just don't pick anybody tonight. Why? Let's talk about all of them. We've all done the work. Talk to.
Let's find out. Maybe there's a team amongst us. There's no pride of authorship here. I, I, I get excited about pulling something off that I've worked
on for a long time. That's my win, right. Thank you sir. Yep. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you mayor. So is the beauty of
being last. So I'm going to ask you the same question I asked the first one. So you should have the answer right at the tip of your tongue. I don't want 14 years of an answer.
Okay? Shoot. Security. How do you plan on handling that? You know, I've done, I think, five projects that included a police
substation in four states. It's important and more so now. So I see the best of your vehicles parked right there in the parking lot and, and and a
substation. So you feel, you know, you feel safe. It wouldn't take up much. They don't need much. They have a police station. But but it's good to have different places. I mean, I see them sit, you
know, ready to have people come in to Tarpon Springs. You sit at night on alt 19, you know, it's important you come in to tarpon. You got to know that you're going to feel safe and it's only going to hopefully
doesn't get worse. But it might. So yes. So you're counting on the police force is what you're saying. I know I'm saying the opportunity exists to have a police substation. We'll need
private security one way or another, but I. I'm not a big fan. Have you spoken to anybody in the police department to see if they need a substation there? I haven't spoken to anybody. Be
honest. No, I I'm just asking the question. Did you consider it all putting an elevator in this 54 foot thing that. Oh, yeah. There's an elevator. Yeah.
There is. Yes. Okay. The reason I highlighted the stairs, if I may. You know, the city is also in the cemetery business, you know, zykadia and and and they
sell monuments because I unfortunately had to buy one. So the theory is that that tower could be something that's tied in with selling monuments as you walk up those stairs and,
you know, there's plenty of families, it's, it's that's what makes tarpon beautiful. I mean, the cemetery is so well visited and, and used and that that you could have plaques and people will donate just like
stained glass windows in a church. They'll they'll buy plaques, they'll name it. I mean, you saw in my cover letter what I offered to name it after my son. Not that I'm
trying to name a tower after my son. I just opened up the bidding. And so, yeah, I think that the that the stairs and the and and the elevator, that
how that looks and how that functions and how that pays for itself is something we all need to discuss. So my, I kind of maybe even have the answer that
you're going to give me. But. So you were unsure who does First Friday, whether it was the chamber or the merchants. And so I presume you didn't speak to either one of them,
whether they would be the ones corresponding with this development. Correct. A portion
of it, yes. And I got to be honest. So my, my. My question was who did you speak with?
Nobody. This this came out yesterday in my mailbox. And so I called Miss Humble. I mean I emailed and she was very nice to email me back. And of course,
I just didn't even know I had met with. There used to be two chambers. I've talked to so many people over the years that aren't here anymore. So no, I, I really didn't make the push.
I'm not a Facebook guy. I'm just a guy that delivers projects. But thank you for the presentation. I know a lot of hard work went into it and we appreciate all the
presentations that are before us. So thank you. Thank you. Appreciate the time. Okay. Our our next presenter will be the
Infill Studio LLC the Tarpon Registry. Okay. Are you. Okay?
You can be the just leave that a little bit high since I'm a little short. Okay. Perfect. All right. Good evening. Mayor, commissioners, city staff and
members of our community. I'm Casey Smith, and I'm honored to be here tonight to represent our team as the local operator for the Tarpon registry. Before I became a small business owner,
I spent almost 20 years. There we go. I spent almost 20 years in corporate and startup roles, leading operations, account management and customer strategy. That experience built a strong foundation in process
and performance. Those skills guide how I approach growth, as well as the operational side of bringing ideas to life. In 2019, I acquired and rebranded One Amazing Find. We grew from a
one person shop to a ten person team with steady year over year growth. In 2024, we expanded to a second location at the Sponge Docks. Both businesses were built with intention
reinvesting in tarpon, creating local jobs and bringing new energy to our retail districts. Beyond my own shops, I focused on strengthening downtown, building relationships, collaborating with business
owners, supporting shared marketing, and encouraging a deeper sense of community involvement. I was last Before you on January 7th in support of moving this redevelopment
forward. After you hear our proposal tonight, I'm confident you'll see that our team and our concept are qualified to advance in the city's process. With that, I'd like to introduce Joe Harrington. Joe
and I go back more than 30 years as high school friends. He was the first person I called when I wanted to start a business on Tarpon Avenue. That idea wasn't the right fit in 2016, but the one we're sharing
tonight is thank you, Casey. My name is Joe Harrington. I'm an architect and developer, and I wanted to talk to you just a little bit tonight about why I'm here in Tarpon Springs. So I actually grew up right down
the street in Bailey's Bluff. I grew up on the water enjoying. Actually, Deb, Deb's here when childhood friends moms. But I got a really close connection to Tarpon Springs. My grand grandparents actually moved
here in 1971. They brought my dad and my aunt along with them. My grandparents were very active in the yacht club and the garden club. My aunt actually taught high school at
Tarpon Springs High School and coach basketball as well. And then my dad actually built his first house right here in Tarpon Springs, and later started a construction company and had an office for years
along Tarpon Avenue. So I'm very familiar with Tarpon Springs community, and I always knew growing up too, that this was something special as I went around. So school took me out
of state over to Dallas, Texas. After schooling, I found a place at a national design, development and construction firm where I worked for almost 18 years. The last position I
held there was the principal architect of Florida, so I was in charge of everything that we designed, built and developed within the entire state. Over over those years, I've designed
and developed dozens of projects in downtown Tampa, along with our team, Downtown Saint Pete, University of Tampa, University of South Florida,
Tampa and Saint Pete campuses, and also the Tampa Airport. We started infill studio to take a bigger a bigger role in smaller projects, to be able to
envision a project and have the skills to be able to take it all the way through. I started Infill Studio about three years ago, so the way I got back to Tarpon Springs was via Port Tarpon Marina. If any of you
are familiar, I had many, many great memories growing up. We took our kids out boating all the time and recently I revisited it just, you know, quite frankly, lost its luster. We had a lot of memories at
that restaurant. The restaurant was closed. So I reached out to the owner, and the owner and I began a partnership to not only revitalize that Marina, but to expand it and bring back waterfront dining, which we're
working on right now. So during this process, I live about 20 minutes away in Odessa. I would drive through downtown. I knew Casey owned one amazing find, and I saw that the building was
for sale. So we put an offer in on the building, thinking that I would team with Casey to bring hospitality to downtown Tarpon Springs. Unfortunately, we did not win that bid. We had to back up offer, but when I
talked with Casey and told her, she she told me about the possibility of the proposal coming out for Forbes and that's that's what brought brought me here. On the next
slide. I think the one of the most important things about developing a quality project is developing quality team. So as I mentioned, I'll lead that team. I'll orchestrate all the parts and pieces. Throughout my
career I've had I've had vision, but also the ability to execute it. Casey obviously speaks speaks for herself as an operations as well. So I think the big thing that
differentiates our proposal is that we bring a team that has operations on board. So not only we thought about architecture, but we thought about development, the financial side. And we've also
talked about operations deeply. Some other members of the team are Frank Starkey, who's here in the audience, also a local developer and architect, a
friend and a mentor. For many years. He's been doing this for over 30 years, and I have a tremendous amount to learn from him, and I'm really happy he's on our team. And Todd, Todd
Unbehagen, who has had family businesses here for over 30 years, knows the community well and is also a partner with us, Ken, our general contractor I'm actually working on at Port
Tarpon. So he's going to be familiar with Tarpon Springs as well. And then my business partner, Jeet Singh is a design architect. Jeet and I have worked together for 15 years. So all the projects that I'm
about to take you through, he was an integral part as well. And one last piece is our engineering team. So we have a full stable of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, structural and civil engineers
ready. We've worked with these folks before and we put the right team together. So I just want to take a minute and explain a few of these projects. The the one up in the top left
has a has a close place in my heart. That was the first project that I had the opportunity to design when I moved back to Florida. It happened to be during the Great Recession, so not only was
building any building a big challenge, but this was actually located in the Heights area before it was the Heights in Tampa. If any of you have been to Armature Works, that whole area. So this is about 15
years ago. There was nothing. There was heavy, heavy on homeless, a lot of crime, and everybody thought we were nuts to build it. But we designed it, we developed it, we built it,
we occupied it and operated it. It's a 30,000 square foot office building, has a roof deck, roof garden and some event space above. But that's really where it's it's struck the the light within me that it
was more than just being an architect. And I wanted to also be able to develop projects. So having that vision for that building was once we got in there and started experiencing a neighborhood, other people's
could start seeing the vision. So the city of Tampa put out an RFP for the building right next door to that, which was Eulalia, which is the one over here on the top right. So I had the opportunity to work very
closely with Richard Gonzmart from the Columbia Columbia restaurant, where we we told the story of the of Princess Eulalia in the spring and Tampa history and not only
incorporated that into architecture, but in the menu and the art and all the way through the entire process. Another thing to note on on that project is that it was
funded with historic tax credits, which means that we worked very, very closely with local, state and national historic preservation principles. Same thing on this
bottom to the left, project Meridian is in downtown Tampa. It was an old courthouse built in the early early 1900s and sat abandoned for about 15 years. So when it would rain, there was like literally a
river that would come through and dump into the courthouse. And we took that and worked with the developer and added 135 rooms. Again, historic tax credits and and revitalized
that project. And then finally, on the bottom right hand bottom right hand side is a picture of downtown New Port Richey. This is Frank's work over the last 30 years. He has steadily, you
know, acquired one parcel over the next and did what true incremental development is, which you create a quality project that builds on the next and builds on the next and
incremental approach. When we talk about why a hotel, it really comes back to who we are as a city. Tarpon Springs was built on tourism. People have always come here to experience our waterfront, our culture and
our charm. But right now, those visitors come for the day and leave by the evening. What's missing is a place for them to extend their stay somewhere that lets them slow down, walk to dinner, grab a drink shop
and wake up here the next morning ready to explore again. That turns day trips into weekends and weekends into real economic activity for our restaurants, our shops and our entertainment venues. The Tarpon Registry is designed to
keep visitor dollars circulating throughout our community. It's not about building something new for tourists, it's about building something that's constantly at work for tarpon, supporting existing businesses, bringing new energy in the evenings,
strengthening our local economy and adding long term value to the city's tax roll. The last time a hotel was proposed, it was widely acknowledged that tarpon needed more overnight stays. But the concern then was
scale. This project begins to chip away at that need in a way that fits the character and size of our community. We recognize that one boutique hotel, whether 12 or 24 rooms, won't solve all of the city's
lodging needs. But if we can pair a few small, similar projects at the right scale for our city, we can create a tremendous collective impact. When visitors stay overnight, they move around, they visit
our parks, they take boat tours, shop and dine across the city, discovering the other local businesses and experiences that make tarpon so special. One of the things that really gets me
excited about infill development is every. Every site is unique and has unique opportunity. This is this is no different. This is very challenging site to develop. But good challenges bring good
outcomes. So on the top of your screen you'll have Tarpon Avenue. On the bottom you'll have Court Street just for reference. So one of the things that really makes this site interesting is that it has a retail frontage along Tarpon
and Court Street. So where you usually have a back of a building where you'd have your services and things like that, we don't have that opportunity because it's public facing on both sides. The other thing, as
we heard that the city has master plan for a parking garage across the street on Court Street. We think there's an opportunity to enhance retail there as well. So we knew that whatever we did, we
wanted to include a three block connection that moved visitors from the parking to the south through our property onto Tarpon Avenue. We didn't just want that to be a corridor, you
know, a dark, you know, sort of dingy way to access that space. And that's where the courtyard came from. So we expanded the courtyard. That gives us an ability to make the entire ground floor an active use. In
addition, on the upper floors, it gives us the ability to put hotel rooms inside facing the courtyard. So not only do we have hotel rooms facing Tarpon Avenue, we have facing court,
and then we have balconies bringing the courtyard. If you see here, this is this is Tarpon Avenue, elevation on the top. It's the Court Street
elevation on the back. What we're just talking about, I think scale is extremely important, especially when you're talking about a historic downtown. I want to be clear that we follow the ITN process
in the sense that we wanted to propose something that was conservative and that we knew we could execute on. So what we've proposed today is what's allowed by current zoning. Not to say that we couldn't, you
know, negotiate further. Actually, when we first looked at this building, we had proposed a balcony that extended out and dropped columns on the other side of the sidewalk, similar to the
Two frogs brewery space. But when we started really looking at the site closer, there were a couple of issues, none of them being major, but just again, we wanted to be conservative. So there's a
power line that drops in front of it where if we were able to have that balcony, our occupants would actually be able to touch that power line. So something we certainly have to deal with. There's two street trees in the way which
again, can be can be moved, but we didn't want to propose taking those down. And our property only exists to the back of the sidewalk. So for us to extend over the sidewalk, we'd have to work an easement
agreement together with the city. Again, all minor things, but just something to consider. In addition. In addition, we're proposing a third level. If
we're awarded the ITN, which we hopefully are, we the first thing we would do is release a market study to show that there's enough demand for 24 rooms in downtown. We certainly think there is, but we'd like
to see that on paper before promising the third floor. And we also have to negotiate with the city to understand what process we need to go to to get
the three levels. What you see here is the main retail space on Tarpon Avenue. It will be a new concept under the Tarpon Registry name, a mix of men and women's apparel, travel accessories and gift items
designed to serve both visitors and locals. I'll curate the shop myself, and it will be thoughtfully styled as an extension of the boutique hotel. For travelers, it's part of their hotel experience, a place to find locally inspired pieces
that tell the story of where they've stayed. For locals, it's a space that feels familiar and connected, a shop that can bring their guests to and feel proud of. You may have noticed in our full proposal that our logo includes an
anchor, a tarpon, fish and waves. Our tagline for this project is a registry of place, story and stay. Each of these elements connects back to that idea, connected to this place, shaped by its story, and
designed for the experience of staying here. What you see on the far right. On the far right is the three block connection. It runs from Tarpon Avenue through to Court Street. It's designed to invite people in and create walkability between
both sides of the block. The entrance itself will feature artwork that acts as a visual anchor, signaling that this isn't just another storefront, but an open and welcoming part of downtown. This is an
interior image of the corridor. You can see how public art makes this more of an experience. It's designed to draw people in, encourage movement, and invite discovery along the way. We believe strongly in honoring the
heritage of Tarpon Springs, respecting the character of what's already here while creating something timeless and built to last. That vision and the care that's gone into every detail, reflect our commitment
to creating something that truly belongs here. Joe will walk through more of that design detail next, but before I turn it back over to him, I want to talk about our open entrances to the property. Our entrances will be secured after
hours, ensuring privacy for hotel guests and preventing access to the property by anyone not registered to be there. Guests will use smart technology for entry, providing secure access throughout the hotel portion of the property.
That level of security also gives us the flexibility to host private events in the courtyard, both for hotel guests and for the public. As Casey mentioned, we wanted to really bring in the history of
Tarpon Springs. It's already in the historic district, but we see this as an opportunity to welcome guests to Tarpon and have them stay and really learn about the history of this great place. So in order to do that,
one of the things that we did is on the right hand side in that plan. You see that dotted blue line? That's the art that we've proposed. And time, time is up. A lot of stuff. Yeah.
But I'll go ahead with the first questions. First. I want to thank you very much. That was it's it's a beautiful concept. And I think you answered one of my questions.
Are you willing to go three stories? Obviously you are. Are you willing to have a rooftop lounge? Yeah, we'll we'll
consider. We'd love to go through the negotiation process and have those discussions, but absolutely that's possible. And then I'm going to ask you the same question. What do you believe your total cost in this?
Let's assume you go three stories. I didn't do the cost on the on the three stories. We just did it on the two. But we have a total development budget of 4.1 million for the two
story, 4.1 for the for two stories. Yeah. The basically the project as proposed. All right. Thank you. And that's that soft cost. Hard cost the whole thing okay. Thank you
very much Commissioner Banther. Yes. Thank you. That that was a very impressive presentation. And Casey, we just want to thank you again for all you've done for for Tarpon Avenue in
downtown. It's very much noted, and I'm glad you are a part of this process tonight. Now, you said you will be doing the the the the retail space, correct? Yes. So it's not a matter of having to like lease it out or
anything like like like that. No. And one amazing find is staying exactly where it is in the Mother Mary's building as well. Long term, very nice. And one one of my main concerns this is our like third round of
this as far as trying to get somebody to build here, if the, the the if you're awarded this project tonight what what what financial backing. How do you
plan on on on on you know, you know on like funding this whole project. Sure. So actually skipped past that. But on our org chart everybody on our org is actually in including their
own equity. So we believe in this project so much. We're putting our own our own money behind it, along with a mix of SBA, SBA funding. So so if you
are if you are successful, you guys you guys are like are like ready, ready, ready to like yes sir. We have all our equity lined up. All right. Thank you. Commissioner De Donato. Again I
want to thank you very much. I will have questions for whoever we do choose. But at this point in time, I wanted to look at all three presentations and and I again, my, my thanks go to
all three of you for considering tarpon and developing what what can be a very, very nice project. Like I said, I will have my questions,
but I'm waiting until we know who we're who we're going to deal with. Thank you, Commissioner Coolio's. Yes, I want to thank Mrs. Smith and Mr. Harrington for the presentation and look sharp. I
get straight into the one thing I see it's somewhat lacking is community space. Whether it be, you know, for residents to go visit or something like that. So I want to circle back to
what the mayor asked, and I've been very open about what I expect or what I would like for a building there. You brought up that Leed silver building where it's got that open, the
roof deck, the roof deck, it's got the the roof area. I like that type of concept a little bit to be on the third story, at least half of the building if possible. You know what I
mean? I'm not. I don't think I'm going to support 24 rooms unless, you know, we got to look at some good studies. But I think there's a compromise in between what you currently have and potentially up there. But
an elevator to get to the third floor wouldn't be an issue. I mean, and the way you guys have built this right now is just how the codes, given no expectation of property given
or any other incentives, as we're currently speaking, correct? Yeah. We've we offered 25,000 for the purchase of the property. Okay. We would like
the impact fees in in permit fees credited if possible. And then we've asked for for dedicated on street parking spots right here shown down to the bottom right along Court Street. Just so we have good
access for service and everything. In addition to parking, everything else is handled publicly. Okay. And can I answer your courtyard question? Go ahead. And there is an elevator in the second
story. So it would not be an issue if we put on a third. So this is the image of the courtyard. The courtyard is one of my personal favorite aspects of our project. It is designed to be a gathering area for both
visitors and locals. Inside, the first floor will feature a grab and go market stocked with snacks, sweets, beer and wine perfect for travelers to take up to their room or enjoy right in the courtyard. It's also a space that locals can enjoy,
whether meeting a friend before shopping or stopping in on the way to a meal. As you see here, we've actually included three micro retail units for local entrepreneurs, something I'm especially passionate about.
These spaces will give makers a chance to showcase their work, connect travelers with our artisans, and bring authentic creativity into the heart of our project. With the city envisioning several large mixed use sites downtown, these will
be new doors opening for future growth. These micro retail spaces give small businesses the chance to start, build momentum, and form their community before moving into larger spaces. So it very much is a gathering space. Okay. It
looks it looks good. It's just, you know, from there to open air concepts, we come this way. It still has openness, but it's still you know there's still building in second level. Yeah. Absolutely. You know we thought
the same thing and we thought that having a courtyard would be a great opportunity for gatherings. The reality of this is that as I mentioned, the lots are only 50ft wide. So if you take this I think scale is
extremely important and I'm always interested in the other proposals as well. But the courtyard courtyard that you see right here is double the size of the green space that is providing. So you take two of
the two of their courtyards together is the size of our courtyard. It's designed to be flexible and programed in different ways as time goes on as well. Okay. And I like the I
like the the pathway to go to and from, just maybe there's a way to design it to look just a little bit bigger on the outside because it, you know, looks similar to some of the storefronts that way. It's an
easy, accessible point if chosen. But as I said, if you look back at other meetings, I'm willing to move forward with different incentives, but I need some type of activity.
On that third story, I talked to a lot of members of the community, you know what I mean? And there's hopefully there's a way to bring something for everyone to join, because as the one individual said, there's a hook and, you know,
building ukulele. What's the hook around there? Yeah, I, I think the hook for our project, honestly, is Tarpon Springs itself. So that's what's really was really interesting to me is I, you know, and Frank, I think
can chime into this too, is that we're looking for areas that we want to we want to do repeat work and we want to invest in as developers. And that's what I saw from Tarpon Springs. That's what I've seen
firsthand from Casey in her her her influence and membership as part of the downtown is that there are the street festivals. You have great vendors, you have unique places to eat. You have where I got cut off, there
was, you know, Anclote Island is out there. You have the lighthouse, spring Bayou Sponge Docks in Tarpon Springs has this really interesting tapestry of all these different things working for it. And the
only thing that we want to do is bring people here so that they can enjoy that, so that they can wake up in Tarpon Springs and they can go to sleep in Tarpon Springs. There's plenty of options for
them. Okay. And the one thing I was going to try to lead to Armature Works at the top. You got that nice venue over there. I can't remember the name of it, but yeah, it's a younger crowd, but we're not. I'm not looking
for something like that, but something. What type of esthetic half across the building should be really considered for the community. Enjoy. And I think it'd be a nice point up top to overlook
the downtown too. So those are my comments for now, and we'll thank you for the presentation. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you mayor. I loved your
presentation. I love what it looks like, but I have to ask you the similar questions, which I'm sure you're shocked.
Security. This side courtyard is unfortunately to me, it is another place that the police have to keep an eye on. We do
have everybody knows. We have, you know, homeless in town. And to me, no matter what you do, it draws them to be there. Even if it's just daytime, nighttime,
whatnot. And I don't want to give the chief any more headache than he already has. I
know it's a thin, you know, opening. And at the same time, we do need a hotel desperately.
Somewhere. It's the somewhere that I have. My stickler. I know. We went through three presentations of a hotel at the
Sponge Docks, and we had most of the people in town screaming and hollering. We need, we need, we need. But it was the wrong item in the or I should say,
the right item in the wrong spot. I love what you have. I'd love to see that in a more.
More eventful area. And I could be sticking my neck into the noose, which I'm good at, but there could be a possibility of something coming up. Possibly.
I don't know. You know, there are birds that tweet by my ears sometimes and, you know, I, I just think you're taking a very
good presentation and a good project and you're putting it into a spot that you're not going to get your full potential. So, Commissioner Eisner, this hotel is being
proposed on this lot. I know there's been a lot of talk about, why don't we put it at the bayou, right. And another boutique hotel of a similar scale could go with the bayou. Right. We know that. We've got
Liberty Stables. We've met with Joe Kokolakis before we even submitted this to talk with him through it. So that's where I feel strongly that a few small sites will accomplish that. Joe designed this building to fit
this lot. He talked about the length and the width and why this building works in that lot. Your first question on security. So during normal operating hours, whatever those are, let's say whatever time that
closes up at night, the the property would be staffed just like we are at our other locations. Right. But when the property closes, the gates that we've already considered and already have in our plans would
close. We would. I met with a few folks months back when we first started this, to kind of look at the technology that's out there for these types of settings. So I would not expect the police to be on site with
us full time. We do not have public restrooms. I'm very familiar with the current landscape downtown, and it's things that I deal with that one amazing find. And I would take that same approach at this property of we would not allow
for that to happen. We would not allow for those scenarios to, you know, to create. We wouldn't allow for it to create more of a scenario. And if it did, I'd call non-emergency like I do most weeks. So since
you're the third person I do have, when all three are done and I get my chance, I do have a somewhat of a rendition and a proposal. So my question I
would ask you is, are you willing to move that back off the street and have a possibility of a seating area
instead of on the side in the front? Yes. We want to get to the table and start the negotiations. Joe mentioned that we followed the city and process to a T, so we've not had conversations, we've not
done, nothing's been out of code, etc. we want to get to that table and start having those discussions of exactly what you're looking for. Okay.
What else do I have? That's that's pretty much it. I do want to thank you. It was an amazing, you know, proposal and presentation. There was very
little I didn't understand of what you were doing. So and I'm still also a little bit on the fence of whether we should go 12 or 24 or whether we should
be 12 and using it as a rooftop. But, I mean, those are things that can be discussed down the road, and we'll just see how that goes. And I think the market study that we're prepared to do will help answer
some of those questions as well. Thank you. Commissioner coleus has one more question. Yes, the Agora brought up. It was minimal construction time. I forgot to ask Mr. Graham, but what is your expected as this
is presented? Start to finish construction time. Constructions. Currently we have a detailed schedule prepared for this, but construction is anticipated to
take a little bit more than a year. We have 30 day negotiation period in there hopefully, and if we can follow that then we can be open by fourth quarter of 2027. Okay.
Thank you sir. We also just just to add to that, we believe good things take time. And if there's anything that I learned in 20 years of architecture and development experience is that
those upfront planning stages, those are the most important. And then it's about the execution. But we're really trying to put a project here that's going to last generations, not just a few years. Yeah, I prefer to move a
lot slower on on bigger projects like this that will anchor certain areas for decades to come. So I thank you, thank you, thank you mayor. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very
much. Yeah. That was what I was going to ask. Let me let me get a show of hands of how many people wish to speak in public
comment. Okay, let's take ten minutes. Feature thing.
Okay. So. Please. Okay. All right. So,
you know, I considered requesting a suspension of the rules of procedure, which right now our rules of procedure allow public comments to be
three minutes. Given that we have a lot of people talking, I'm not I'm not going to propose a to suspend the rules. I'll I'll go ahead with three
minutes. But if you I mean, if you don't have three minutes worth of things to say, don't you know it'd be fine just even if you just want to get up and say, I support this, and if
somebody's already made the point that you want to make and there's no point to to repeating the same point again, you would be you're more than
welcome to get up and just say, I support, you know, project A or B or C that will be welcomed as well. So let's when you come
up, please state your name and your address. Who is the first speaker? Go ahead, go ahead.
I'll speak first and be quick. The answer to this question is we have a saying at the distillery that we put on t shirts that says, honoring the past and embracing the future. You know, Tarpon Springs right
now, we need to embrace the future, and the future is younger people and ways to get younger people into town. Saturday was particularly dead, so I decided to go see what's going on. I went down to the
sponge docks. Literally. I counted 12 people on the sponge docks at 4:00 on Saturday in perfect weather and three cars in the parking lot. Okay, so the sponge docks is great, but it's not going to drive the town anymore. We need more
attractions. And truthfully, we also need a boutique hotel for people to stay. So if there's some way to figure out how to. The Sandbar Project is is awesome looking. If you go to
one of those places, like I encourage you guys to do that, go check that out. It brings people from all over. It's a great tourist thing. If it truly will bring 30,000 extra people to town a month, that's
awesome. Okay. And we need a boutique hotel. So if there's some way to figure out how within the city to zone and change to get both of these things going, that would be awesome for the community.
Jimmy Butler, Tarpon Springs Distillery, what's your address? 605 North Pinellas Avenue. Okay. And the reason we need it is, as the city clerk just handed me a note, she needs names and
addresses for for the public records. Okay, 605 North Pinellas Avenue. Anyway, that's that's my $0.02. Thank you so
much. Next. Hi, Sue. Hi. I am Sue Swenson, 327 Manatee Lane.
One I support. It. Can't be that fast. No. Thank you, Sue, you spoke too much. Now you
flustered me. Anyways, I support cases. You're going to say I support cases, design whatever she touches. She's got the Midas touch. I woke up this
morning channeling Casey. I have jeans and a light shirt and she has the suit on, so it's all positivity. But the other thing I wanted to say is what is consistent between the
three. The concern for security and homelessness. We've got to do something about homelessness and what it's doing to our community. So that's the number one thing we kept hearing
security, police. So if anything, let's continue to focus on moving the feeding of the homeless, because Ada even knows she can't support them in
the back. They feed them, they kick them back out. So okay, you know how I feel. Thank you. Next. Hi, my name is Kim
Stettner. My return residents next year will be 1649 Seabreeze. We were displaced from last year's hurricane. Sorry. Thank you. This is my
very first opportunity to attend a city meeting. I recently retired and I look forward to becoming more involved in my community. That will be my permanent home. I am
a big proponent of the Tarpon Registry. I think that as I've reflected on my need to live out of state as we're working towards rebuilding our home, I've struggled to find a place
to come and stay for a couple of days when I've returned to the community, so having a local boutique hotel is appealing. There have been times where I've needed
additional space for family or friends who want to be in town for just a few days, and it's been difficult to find places to accommodate them when we don't have the space in the home that I was previously
living in. But I also have found, as I've traveled for business and I've told people that Tarpon Springs is my community, I've heard from many individuals talk about how they
visited us for a day because they didn't have the opportunity to stay here, so they stayed in Clearwater and they would make a day trip up. And as I've seen our downtown
area revitalize since we moved here in 2018, I continue to see opportunity for growth in this community and the idea of being able to offer people a place to
be overnight and spend an extra day here or two days, whatever the case might be, I think is a great opportunity for us as a community. So I just wanted to
provide my support for Tarpon Registry. Thank you. Next. Hello, I'm Klaus, I don't live in Tarpon Springs. I live in
Palm Harbor, and there's not a lot of things going on in Palm Harbor. That's why I've drawn a lot like today to Tarpon Springs. Tarpon Springs has
better restaurants. It has better coffee, it has better ice cream. A lot of things like these, I agree. I'm also a father. I have a four year old
daughter. And a lot of times, you know, during weekend nights, during weekends, I'm looking for things to do with my four year old and my wife and things
like farmers markets, local, you know, food vendors that require low commitment are perfect for me and other people in kind of similar situations
with small kids and, you know, needing things to do on kind of on that empty time. And I think the Agora Downtown project is amazing at kind of like drawing
people like me even more into Tarpon Springs to utilize these vectors. I can already kind of imagine in my mind, like a really good coffee vendor, some business owner who's like, who
wants to start a coffee business but isn't ready yet to rent out a bigger event, could easily work in one of those smaller containers, so something like that would
really draw me even more. From Palm Harbor to Tarpon Springs. Thank you, thank you. Next. I'm
Beth Weeks, 505 Lincoln Avenue, Tarpon Springs. I'm here speaking tonight to give my 100% support to the Infill Studios proposal of Tarpon Registry. I have read and
reviewed all the proposals. As a citizen of Tarpon Springs for almost two decades, this is the only proposal that will support the continuing growth of our city long after we are gone.
What stands out to me about this project is their commitment to own, operate and manage the property in its entirety, not building it and waiting for tenants to come and be filled in. The esthetics of
this new build was intentionally designed to blend seamlessly with the fabric of our downtown. The thoughtful boutique lodging, the curated retail space. It's what we've needed in downtown Tarpon, and
we've talked a lot about lodging for a long time now, and the time has come. The Tarpon registry checks all the boxes and more. So I respectfully ask you to award
Infill Studios the Forbes lot for redevelopment. Thank you, thank you. Next. Good evening,
Julie Wade 1095 mainsail. I am thrilled that we are moving this town. Great to see changes, growth, just some progress. I think both the agora and the
registry are interesting and they provide opportunities that I'd love to have in my town. I'd love to have both of them in my town. Agora is an active
space. It's the opposite of a quiet hotel, so that's part of what you need to think about. Do you want a quiet space for downtown, or do you want something with action like this?
Young dad was mentioning? Definitely. Agora is going to need some more sunshades. I didn't see how it was Ada compatible with that second floor, but maybe I missed the
elevator. You need bike parking. You have to have management on site. Anything that's got that much activity and you need restrooms. I saw children's spaces, but I didn't see a
restroom for them to use, and I saw dogs on the same grass that the kids were playing on. We got to think about that. Some people were concerned about the small shops, but to me it
provides an opportunity for somebody to try it out and see if they can make a go of it, and then hopefully rent some of our empty spaces as they grow, because we have a lot of empty
retail spaces, but maybe a little concerned about the permanence of these containers. We want something that's going to be there for a long time,
and I really want to have a hotel. I know we're working on the livery stable place, but I'm not sure that's enough. The registry is beautiful. I love all their plans. You've really
thought through a lot of it. It's traditional and yet it's fresh. It's the safe choice and it's quiet. I agree, if we could get both in here, that
would be phenomenal. But some action downtown. There's no way that the visitors that I see could make it up that tower. So let's have some other active spaces, perhaps downtown, but
whatever. Either one is a great choice. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next. How's everyone
doing? My name is Tori Farley, 305 South Saffron Ave is my father's property, I live there. Good evening. My name is Tara Farley. I'm a young adult who was born and raised here in
Tarpon Springs. I'm here today because much like everyone else, I've noticed the rapid fire changes developing around me. Throughout my childhood and teenage years, this city has been a community full of culture, togetherness and love.
And that is why I'm here today. To urge the council on board to select a development that will not just increase tourism and profit, but will also increase incentive for us to come together as a community and congregate. Tarpon is a city
filled with beautiful minds and talents, from musicians to poets to designers and craftsmen. This is why I would like to see the city develop a central hub for these minds to come together and enjoy each other's company. In addition to
having a selection of small local shops to patron and support, I believe the two options most suitable for this are Agora Downtown and the Anika Gnosis. After seeing the
presentations, I believe Agora is absolutely the way we need to go. When I see these development projects, I see an opportunity to create a closer community for Tarpon Springs citizens that we can all be pleased with. Unfortunately,
while I do like the registry and what it will bring to Tarpon, and I agree, we need more hotels, more lodging, I do not think it's the right space for it to go. The plans claim to offer an outdoor public
courtyard, but with the 12 hotel rooms being occupied in addition to another 12 potentially, one begins to wonder if the public space offered will truly be accessible to citizens, or if this will be another luxury
strictly for visitors and tourists. For decades, the city has been praised for its beautiful historic architecture and has been a staple of our pride. And I believe the Tarpon Registry sleek and minimalist design are a sign of us losing
that pride. In conclusion, I urge everyone here today on the council to do the right thing and vote for Agora Downtown.
Thank you, thank you. Next. Good evening, Mayor and commissioners. I'm Cindy Trapani, 22 North Spring Boulevard. And before I start, I wanted to confirm that Miss
Protas donated some time to me for this evening. I'm at about 4.5 minutes, if that's possible. We're not doing that tonight. Not here. Not at a CRA meeting. Go ahead. Okay. Well, that's
not what your rules indicate, but I'll try and be as brief as I can. As many of you know, I am a land use planner. I don't need this to me, mayor. Don't be doing that stuff. Don't be
doing that stuff. Okay? Now go ahead. This. Did we forego the rules for tonight? Did not. What we said was that you weren't going to follow the
rules for, you know, I was going to make a rule. I was going to make a motion to limit to two minutes speaking. So I think three minutes we should be able to get our points out
and get our three minutes. So thank you. Go ahead. I'll, I'll make it as brief as I can. I am a land use planner with significant experience in historic preservation. And that just to refocus us on many of the uses. Are the uses an
important factor. But really the question is what project, what development can meet the historic district design guidelines? Just to give you some of my experience at the state level, I was the executive director of the Florida Trust, the only
statewide advocacy group for historic preservation, as appointed by the Florida Secretary of State to the National Register Review Board, and also to the Central Florida Regional Citizens Advisory
Board. My master's thesis at FSU related to historic Preservation designation and gentrification in Tampa neighborhoods at the county level. I was appointed by the county commission to the first
ever Task Force on Preservation to set a preservation policy for Pinellas County, and as an outgrowth of that task force, I sat on the original preservation board for eight years at the local level. I was
a member of the Tampa Preservation. While working for the city of Tampa, I successfully worked with property owners and city council for approval of a complete redo of the Ybor City
Historic District. Also at the city, I led the efforts in cooperation again with property owners and the city council, to approve the first citywide preservation ordinance and the first historic district, which
is Hyde Park. I'm sure many of you are familiar with that area and locally in Tarpon. I served as a Tarpon Springs Area Historical Society board member for seven years and president for four years. And as many of
you know, I also served as a member and chairman of Tarpon Heritage Preservation Board. So that's all just to say, I do know my thing about historic preservation. That is the primary emphasis and key
component in making the decision on the main historic street in downtown, which is in the city, which is Tarpon Avenue. So I reviewed these three proposals in the context of their compliance with
historic district goals. Based on my review is clear that the proposals one and two, the Agora and the Smith Equity have no way possible to meet the historic district guidelines. I don't think that you should
consider them any further. In contrast, the third proposal, the Tarpon registry's design, incorporates many of the significant design features that are needed that will be needed to comply with the historic district and be
compatible with the rest of Tarpon Avenue. I am supporting Tarpon Registry for that reason. It's also the only submittal the Tarpon Registry that meets the city's invitation to negotiate with talks about
constructing a building with quality design characteristics that considers historical integrity of downtown. There are few features that need to be updated and revised in order to fully comply the design
guidelines. I've spoken with Tarpon registry applicant, and they've indicated a willingness to have that conversation and to work through it to meet the the meet the requirements of the design guidelines. And he
spoke of those some utility updates or revisions that he would ask the city to contemplate. And I would urge the city to work cooperatively with them so that a historically appropriate
building can be built. I hope the board will select the Tarpon registry as a developer and allow them to revise their project to be historically compatible. A strong partnership between the city and the registry will result in
an infill project that will proudly stand the test of time as part of the historic Tarpon Avenue commercial corridor. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Next. Good evening. My name is Christy Sparrow. I live on 552 Cypress Street, Tarpon Springs. I am the store manager at One
Amazing Find. One of the many things that I hear from our guests that we welcome who are locals and out of towners is we love Tarpon so much and your passion and zest for this town.
There's so much to offer, but we would like it to be more than just a day trip. That's why I am in support of Tarpon Registry that would provide our
residents and out of towners to have somewhere to stay. It's a thoughtful project that meets that fits our beautiful downtown, historic, that is
historical, supports the small businesses downtown that keeps downtown so special. I truly believe it is a step in the right direction for Tarpon Springs future, and I urge the board to support the Tarpon
Registry. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next. Hello. Good evening. Mayor, board of Commissioners and Residents of
Tarpon. I am not a resident of Tarpon, but my name is Dana and I come from Trinity and I am in support tonight of Tarpon Registry. So we will serve as
Tarpon registry will serve as a cornerstone for tourism, heritage preservation and local economic economic development. It includes retail storefronts, flexible meeting spaces and
public courtyards, and a blend seamlessly with the charm of tarpon and the character of downtown. It was well organized and crafted by top visionary minds from other surrounding
communities, as in New Port Richey and some of the developments there, as in Trinity and the things that we've seen there, it really has grown and has shaped where we want to be as family and where
we want to be as friends and others in the economic side of the world. Of Tarpon, 86% are day visitors to tarpon, and I
am one of those day visitors. I come every week. We visit my husband and my mother in law, come and visit the shop and the tarpon area every Thursday. We come on the weekends, but we
want a place to stay. I was just saying to my husband, we need a place to come and stay, and I would come and stay even if it was an hour down the road, getting ready to go to Saint Augustine and visit over there.
So we need to create that atmosphere across multiple communities and multiple areas of opportunity. The other piece is all about what charm it
brings. You have a couple of hotels in the area, but most of the hotels that are here are large or big names. Hampton Quality Innisbrook. The only
charm of a hotel that is existing here that I can see is the 1910 in. This is a great opportunity to bring that charm back to the area and to others
that are in the area locally, but especially those that are visitors. 86%. Thank you, thank
you. Next. Good evening, mayor, commissioners and city staff. My name is Christy Howard and I am the property across the street from this lot at 155
East Tarpon Avenue. And so I do believe I will be greatly impacted my property value by the choice of this lot development. I'm here to speak in strong support of approving the Tarpon Registry proposal
for this site. Is the project that best meets the city's adopted standards, fulfills the intent of the CRA and contributes to a sustainable, year round economic downtown economy. I strongly oppose the
shipping container proposal known as Agora. It is wholly incompatible with our historic district. It's economically unrealistic, and it risks leaving the city with an expensive cleanup in just a few
years. First, I want to address the alignment with the CRA and city standards. They clearly meet with the Tarpon registry with their use of traditional materials and no need to hurry up. So I'll say, by contrast,
the corrugated shipping containers are not compatible materials. I think that it kind of implies this temporary use type of modular situation. And
I would be suspect about the longevity of the steel in our climate. But the most important thing I want to talk about is the economic value that they say they will bring. While the
Tarpon registry is owner operated hospitality, its team will be open seven days a week and personally managing their investment and employing staff year round. By comparison, the competing Agora proposal
projects 10 million a year in sales from just 3680ft■!S of of leasable space. That's over $2,700 per square foot in
annual sales, a fantasy number at almost nine times the national average for retail sales. For context, national retail benchmarks hover at
325ft■!S, $325 per square foot r year, and even premium shopping destinations rarely exceed $1,200 per square foot, even if their AI generated marketing
images were true and Chanel moved in. The math doesn't work if these 300 square foot micro tenants can't survive will be debating in five years, who pays to haul away rusting
containers from the middle of our main street? And that's not sustainable development. Furthermore, under the economic stress of these sales numbers and what I perceive as
astronomical rent, I mean astronomical rent as vendor tenants will likely keep sporadic hours and close during weekdays, leaving our main street dark and inconsistent. Exactly the opposite of what a
healthy downtown needs. And last but not least, let's talk about the market trends that should be shaping this decision. There is absolutely no question that we need a hotel space in Tarpon Springs. I would even expand on that. However, we
need to address the fact that Agora has centered its project around a beer garden at a time when the latest Gallup polling shows that US adult drinking is at a historic low and dropping at a record pace the past
several years, anchoring a downtown revitalization effort on alcohol consumption is not forward looking. Economic planning. The Cra's mission is to restore vitality, preserve the historic character and
attract long term private investment in Tarpon Registry. Does that. Thank you, thank you. Right under the gun. Next. Good
evening. Tarpon. Georgiana Frances, 15 Athens Street. I'm speaking on behalf of the Agora Downtown project. To me,
downtown is where we find each other. I don't see the Agora as just a project, but what could be a pulse for the community? I see it as a place where people
can come together, where music can fill the air, and where multiple local, local businesses can thrive alongside their community. One of the things that makes this proposal
so meaningful are the people that are behind it. Steve Edwards I've known since kindergarten I wish he was here tonight. We grew up here, went through school all grade school together. We used to compete in
elementary school over who could do the most pull ups. If you know Steve, you know that he's winning that competition right now. Steve has always been gifted, not just in
business, but in integrity and courage. Over the years, we haven't always agreed on everything, but I've always respected his willingness to speak up and to stand for what he believes is right. And I'm
very proud that he's chosen to stay and raise his family right here in Tarpon, in the same neighborhood that the two of us actually grew up in. I met Daniel Edgell about 8 to 10 years ago, and he was
volunteering at the art show for the Chamber of Commerce and just a regular volunteer. And we were doing, you know, the squares for the tents for the artists. And I would have never known he was an architect. He
didn't try to correct me at all so long before I knew he was a talented architect. I knew that he cared about the community, and even now, with all his success and leadership, he continues to give back at a grassroots level. And that says
a lot about his character. And even between the two of us, we've disagreed about things in the past, but we've moved forward with mutual respect, and that's the kind of strength that Tarpon needs. Geoffrey Rich, the third partner,
someone I've just recently met. But his authenticity, authenticity and commitment have stood out from the start. He's not trying to fake any of his roots here, and he's leaning into what's real and
what makes Tarpon strong and the and the strong. The positives of his project. So three different people with one shared vision for tarpon, to me
is about community, not competition and connection, not ego. It's about jumpstarting the energy that downtown needs, bringing community together and
helping the local businesses thrive. I also believe the Agora concept is more likely to bring real economic growth to our downtown than a hotel, which would primarily serve out-of-towners and tourists.
Projects like Agora generate steady year round activity, music markets, dining events, the things that will keep our downtown alive, downtown alive with energy. Tourists naturally
want to stay close to the sponge docks, and I do think a true boutique, a true boutique hotel concept, has potential in Tarpon. It's a great idea. It just needs to be done in the
right place and in the right way. I also want to make it clear that I'm not against any of the other projects. I have great respect for Casey Smith, the operating manager for the Tarpon Registry project. She
gives 100 100% to everything she takes on, and she's exceptional at it. And I just hope that everyone listens to every all the projects, you know, and listens to all the
community and not just, you know, what they see online. Thank you, thank you. Next. Hi.
My name is Kevin Lee, 608 Penn Street. Like to make the statement on behalf of my wife and I. We're both residents and business owners. We own the Gilded Age bookstore on Court
Street. My wife, who is much more eloquent than I, wrote a long statement. But to keep with the mayor's wishes, I'll try to stick to the points here. As the previous speaker said, I
don't dislike any of the ideas. I think no matter what, we should just be excited that we're filling in this ugly lot and doing something positive with our town. So I think we should all focus on that. I've
seen a lot of negativity floating around. So yeah, I think we're going in the right direction. And. With that said, I also feel it's necessary. I wanted to address the specific
slide in the Agora presentation. I don't know if it was on purpose, but they said they selected a lot of those businesses on purpose, and the very first one they showed was a bookstore. We didn't
necessarily endorse them or even speak to them. So I thought that was an odd choice. So as somebody else already stated, the my wife and I both
believe the registry checks all the boxes that of something that would greatly benefit and most benefit downtown lodging support for small businesses, a
nice walk through from parking areas. And as Casey said, she's down there every day. She's well aware of the issues that need to be solved. It's a very simple security solution that
she's solved there. Yeah. And the other thing. Yeah, lodging. We I know a lot of the people that have families visiting all the time, and I would love to
have them stay somewhere other than our house. But to the point, like I said, a lot of people say it's a it's a one day trip or an afternoon trip
or something. I know there's plenty of people. I have a lot of friends up north that want to come and stay for days on end. They love our town, and either they're stuck out on 19 or they got to find an Airbnb.
I think it's a great thing for a lot of people to come. They would come, they'd stay, they'd patronize the local businesses. And this doesn't discount what a lot of other people are saying about, like having a space for community. You know,
we have some great parks in town. There's there's plenty of areas for that. But I don't think it's that that spot. So thank you for your time. Thank
you. Next. Hello my name is Nick Stamas. I live at 11 Venetian Court, so I'll be quick because I didn't even
know if I was going to speak tonight or come up, so I don't have anything really prepared. I wrote this while I was waiting back there, but I agree. I mean that is all very positive. I'm glad we're doing
this. My family's been here a long time, you know, that lot is great right now. My dog goes to the bathroom in that lot every day. So that's, you know, it's a better use than that. I
think a hotel is great. I want to see a nice hotel in Tarpon Springs. I agree 100% with that. I would just say that I don't know that this is the right spot for a hotel. So that's my
opinion shared by some of these other people. I came here earlier with my three little girls. They're seven, five and two. I think the Agora is the spot where is more family
friendly. It's more of a public space. That's what my wife and I really like about it. And yeah, I think we need more of that vibrancy downtown. I'm
just concerned that a hotel there is a very private space that will be quieter. I work in coach across the street there every day. You know, I see a lot of what goes on. I look
over Tarpon Ave every day when I look down there and I want to see more, more life and more vibrancy downtown. So thank you.
Thank you. Next. Good evening, I'm Robert Williams. I live at 214 Manatee Lane. Your staff I think, got it correct. I would tell you I think the wise move
is to let these folks invest $4 million of their own money to make this thing go and get a good hotel there. Thank you,
thank you. Next. Mayor, members of the Commission. Chief. Chief young. Good evening. My name is John Trapani, 128 East Tarpon
Avenue. Before I state my position on the proposals, I would like to give you my credentials and experience in historic preservation. In the early 1980s, many downtown Tarpon Avenue storefronts
literally had broken windows, were boarded up, and were being used as warehouse storage. Additionally, there was no streetscape and the sidewalks were deteriorated. Louis Pappas,
Fred Howard and I were childhood friends and all third generation Tarpon nights. We formed a partnership to restore architecturally and historically significant buildings and turn around the
town we loved. We purchased nine historic and architecturally significant buildings, having a total of 17 storefronts and many apartments.
Upstairs, the buildings totaled 41,000ft■!S, more or less. We didn't just restore buildings, we rallied all the property owners downtown to join us in a streetscape initiative that
became a model for the National Trust Main Street program. The property owners bought trees, antique lights, brick, cement and benches. The city did the tearing out and replacement for
the streetscape on Tarpon Avenue. This project was a true public private partnership. Our efforts were a key reason that the city was designated as a Florida main Street City, after
previously being denied due to lack of redevelopment efforts. These efforts led one of our buildings, the Taylor Arcade, to be recognized by the National Trust for Historic
Preservation and placed on their 1986 Town Meeting poster. This poster is presently still displayed in the City Clerk's office. These preservation
projects led me to being invited to be a trustee for the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation Board, the only statewide historic preservation advocacy organization. I served
on that board for ten years, six on the executive committee and two years as a president. Because of my preservation efforts here in Tarpon Springs and around the state, I was awarded the Cole Weinert Award,
the highest individual award presented by the Florida Trust. It is with this frame of reference that I have reviewed the three proposals before you for negotiations. For everyone's edification, this
site sits in the middle of a designated National Register Historic District and is governed by our Local Preservation Ordinance and Design Guidelines. The Tarpon
registry was. Some negotiation could meet the preservation guidelines for approval. I would suggest the Tarpon Registry as the appropriate applicant to select for negotiation. It will take
flexibility by both the applicant and the city to be able to meet historic preservation guidelines. The city will need to commit to infrastructure modifications to accommodate this development.
If the project is to meet preservation guidelines. In closing, I would like to challenge the city and the applicant to swing for the fence and try and construct an award winning historic
preservation infill project, a feather in the cap of both the applicant and the city. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next.
Hello BJ Wolf, 412 Denise Street. It was said earlier, we need people in downtown Tarpon Springs, period. We need people. One of the things that we obviously do not have, I mean,
we're one city with two destinations. And honestly, I think a couple of years ago, I think the city really missed the mark by not voting in the hotel with a, with a that was proposed down at the sponge
docks that said, you know, 12 rooms, four people per room, 48 people visiting downtown. That's I mean, I think no matter what, it should be a minimum of 24 rooms. When you guys talk about a boutique
hotel, I don't think you're ever going to find that perfect little spot that's going to be the right place, the right amount. And what's what really took me aback on some of the questions that were asked by
the dais up here is, you know, trying to figure out if it's the if 24 rooms is the right amount. I seem to remember that when they were proposing 110 rooms, the commission was really asking the question,
would you consider 80? And now we're saying, what? You know, 1224 I mean, that's 96 people. If it's 24 or 4 people a night. To put it in perspective, we need people. I think that the
if we're going to go this route with the with the registry, I really, genuinely believe we need to maximize the amount of space so that when people do come in again, we need people to want to come here. There's
locals that might stay there, but there's you know, the lady from Trinity said that they'd love to come and stay here. We shouldn't even consider something less than 24 rooms. I
mean, because I just we genuinely need people to that are going to stay here right now. Everybody's staying in Clearwater, staying in New Port Richey. And, you know, even when there's a few of the
conventions that have happened here, I've met several people out on the street that we had 500 people here a year ago that were at a convention, and they were all staying in other cities. At 5:00, they jumped in
their rental cars and off they went. We need those people here. I highly suggest that if we're going to put a hotel in, you know, boutique, it needs to like we're asking for 82 years
ago, and now we're questioning whether it should be 12 or 24. I think we're undershooting what the potential is for people that want to come here.
Thank you, thank you. Next. Hi, I'm Amy Elliott. I live at 1169 Overcash Drive. I live in Dunedin, but I'm here because I'm really excited for what you
guys have and what you're planning to do. I am a business consultant that has financing. I have private capital lenders that want to bring money and invest in Tarpon. I met with
Karen actually, when the baking soda Haylie Johnson was trying to get her HVAC fixed. And that's actually what I do. My financing is attached to the property up to 30 years for
things like roof, windows, doors, HVAC, building controls, so I can fund up to 40% of pretty much anything that you guys are talking about. For me, as as an out of town resident,
I think the hotel would work best there, but I'm ready for whatever anybody needs. And and I really applaud what you guys
are doing. Thanks. Thank you. Next. Hello, board. My name is Doug Lanza and I co-own and
operate Stay Tuned Records located on Tarpon Ave, but we live at one of our. We live at 1278 Lagoon Road in Tarpon.
Like I said, I own and operate. Stay tuned records right on Tarpon Ave next to the Mother Mia's parking lot. We're a new business, only six months old,
but I am in the store 6 to 7 days per week. And in the short time that we've been open, I've met an abundance of tourists and locals. Not just out of
state tourists, but also tourists from Saint Pete, Tampa, Sarasota, Lakeland, Orlando and more. One thing I've heard expressed time and time again
from the neighboring area type tourists is the desire for lodging in town to allow them the opportunity to extend their visits. So I'm here to express my support for the Tarpon
registry. Not only do I believe this is the best choice for long term economic vitality, but if you ask any of the folks who spend a lot of time interacting with people
downtown like retail workers and business owners, I believe there would be a consensus that Casey Smith is an exemplary community leader. She consistently demonstrates her care for the locals and other
business owners. And I think the Tarpon registry is a testament to her dedication to nurturing and enriched downtown area. Thank you, thank you.
Next. To lack is 514 Ashland Avenue. We're talking about a piece of property, 50 by 162, and everybody's got different
ideas. We can't cram all of these into one spot, so you have to look in perspective. The Agora definitely is a
driver to bring people in, but that is not the place for it. I would recommend go down Ring Street to Lemmon, that empty lot across from there. That's
right in the downtown area. That would be perfect for Agora. But as far as when you look at the visuals, Tarpon registry,
the building and what they're putting there fits in with the landscape of what's currently there, it's the only one that fits in. We know it needs a
third floor. That's a conditional use. That's obvious because, as the gentleman previously said, and as we've heard before, you have to have a certain number of rooms to
generate your your cost benefits. One thing about having a hotel there is you're always going to have people coming and going. This can be a focal point for that particular
thing. And as Mr. Rudd mentioned earlier in the master plan, eventually we purchased, you know, the Latour building, which used to be the old post
office and put our parking garage there and convert the mirrors back into a park. There's your event space. There's other places also on Pinellas Avenue that could
accommodate the Agora. The whole purpose of the Agora is to draw people here. I believe as you look at this particular
lot, you have to look at what fits in. It fits needs for retail. It has the courtyard where if some of their shops
underneath are food shops or other places, they have a place to go to. With a third floor, you put the rooftop bar on. I don't know anybody who doesn't
go to another city and say, hey, we want to go check out that rooftop bar, whether it's New Orleans or New York or Baltimore or Chicago. So I
would also say that one of the things that I heard earlier is you asked the developers or the applicants what they expected. The one applicant wanted the
property free. The other applicant wants you to give them tourist development money. And he was I mean, I'm sorry, but that was not a professional
presentation. So of who you have in front of you, what you have available to do, I would believe your best option is to go with the Tarpon registry and
put that in and then work on some of these other issues as far as your parking and other properties that are in the area that are available for
development. Thank you, thank you. Oh, yes. Hello. I'm not one for public speaking, so I'll be quick. My name is Amy
Brickman and I live at 1278 Lagoon Road and I am a cooperator of Stay Tuned records. I would just like to note that Casey Smith and the Tarpon Registry keeps all
business owners in mind. Something that I don't think is considered in some of the other projects is if you want to add more cafes, we have five cafes within a walking distance
downtown. How are they going to do? How are we going to support the five breweries in town? If you keep adding more beer gardens, how are you going to
support 12 businesses who all have bars? If you keep bringing other other bars and other restaurants? So I ask you guys to consider how other business owners downtown will thrive
with each of these projects. So this is in support of the Tarpon Registry. Thank you, thank you. Anyone else in the audience want to speak? Okay.
Please come on up. Oh, wait. You you are. You were a proposal. Yeah. You can't speak. You can't speak as a as a
public comment. Anyone else? No, I do not. Anita produce 901 Bayshore when I went like that. I want you to see that I was back there and I gave her my
time. But as you know, I'm always here to speak about historic preservation and what I see. Tarpon, we are the open door to Pinellas County. And as
they come down 19 and come into Tarpon, we need something for these people to say, hey, let's stay here. What I've heard
tonight, I support what they presented. She has proven what she can do in Tarpon Springs. Her store is always loaded with
people up and down the street, more so than the rest of them. It's beautiful. It looks like the old building that used to be there, the hardware store with the wooden floors where
boats on both sides of the coast used to come and get their screws there. Nails and their stuff to fix their boats, cause it was the only place in
Florida where you could buy everything for marine. When the when the building went down. It was a sad day for Tarpon Springs when if you vote for
this group and they build this, what they want to put in is going to be a shining star. It looks historic. It fits the the lot. It fits the building that
was there. Not 100%, but you can't get it back 100%. Once you lose your historic preservation things, you cannot reproduce them. I urge you, as
some of you have called me, the old lady who's a little senile that comes up here and I'm not. I'm as smart as you are, and I've got a lot of information that you don't know. Stay with
them. They're going to give us what we want. They're going to make us proud. And I believe in them, and I trust them more than anybody else. I don't want containers uptown. We've had a
train station, we've had containers. We've had all of this. Keep it as close to historic as you can. Thank you, thank you. Anyone else in the
audience want to speak? Okay. Austin. Anybody on zoom? And raised. Okay, I'll unmute them now. Caller, please state your
name and your address for the record. Yes. Thank you. Can I be heard? Yeah, we can hear you. Go ahead. Thank you. It's
Robert Rockline, 755 North Lake Boulevard, Tarpon Springs. Apologies for having to leave the meeting, but I promised my wife dinner. And the wife is
the boss. Finally, I have to say that we're all acting as dentists, working on the missing tooth in the smile of downtown tarpon. This has taken a while, but maybe that's a
good thing. I've been part of the prior downtown revitalizations, where I've lived and worked in the past, and this opportunity to do something new right in the
middle of an existing downtown is is a rare privilege. So it shouldn't be taken lightly. And I don't believe it was. All these proposals tonight had great interest in appeal. And,
you know, they're in many ways thinking outside of the box yet keeping tarpon, you know, in mind, I think the most important thing here is to pick a developer who will work with
this board about the final plans and incorporate many of the ideas brought forth by the residents and business owners over the last couple of years. And regardless of what
eventually is allowed to be built, it has to be, you know, a piece of permanence in our city and be respectful for the traditions and the historical aspects that we should not only
maintain, but continue to enhance. So I had the opportunity to review all three on paper very well, and I listened to the presentations in person tonight. I have to
really pile on my support behind the Infill Studios proposal for the Tarpon registry. It checks almost every box, and they're willing to be adaptable and compromise
based on, you know, the various departments in the city. So to me, it's a no brainer. And I thank you all for your endurance in the time of this meeting. And I look forward to
progress as well as preservation in our town. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else get on? No, sir. That was the only hand raised. Okay. Thank
you. So now we'll come back to the board. I'm going to ask to entertain a motion. I'd like to entertain a motion to accept the staff recommendation for the ranking of the proposals,
and to authorize staff to begin negotiations with the top ranked development team, which in this case would be Infill Studio, LLC, the Tarpon registry. So do I hear a motion?
So moved. Do I hear a second? Second? Okay, so with that said, we'll we'll now go to. Board.
Comments okay, I'll begin the I, I have a. A list of of criteria
that I used in making my decision. First I looked at esthetics. Does the project enhance and or fit in our with
our historic downtown district? Clearly the Tarpon registry checks that box and meets the the look of fitting in with the
historic downtown district. Next. My next item would was need. Does the project meet a
specific need? And I think it's been well noted that. Hotel a hotel is a specific need that
the town has had, you know, looked at the, you know, the Tarpon Inn, which is not, you know. A hotel that much of us
look at at this point as a up to date, viable hotel. But that years ago used to be the Gondolier Motel and it was the
motel in Tarpon Springs. Now that that motel had around 60 rooms, I went actually went up there today and counted them.
And I got about 60 rooms. So, you know, at that point we had 60 rooms. Now we have. And that was in our downtown area. Now we have the livery stable,
which will be open soon, which is eight rooms. And then we have if they only go two stories, we got 12. So we haven't even caught up with
what the city had 30 years ago, with the 60 rooms that were in the downtown area. So I agree we should go the 24 again.
We're still behind what was happening when my brother was mayor 38 years ago. When with the and I think he was sitting
back there earlier. I hope he's okay. So. So I think that the having the hotel doesn't even
get us back to square. But it's a good start. And I agree we should have an even another spot which we can talk about
another date. Okay. Local draw will the project attract local business from Tarpon Springs and surrounding communities?
You know, the the city manager gathered up some data that he shared with me a few weeks back about. I think it was five
locations in the general area he looked at, I believe. Was it Safety Harbor? He looked at Dunedin, downtown. He looked at the sponge docks, he looked at
downtown Tarpon, and he looked at New Port Richey. Okay, I got them. All right, all right. So he looked at all those.
Downtown Tarpon Springs was last of the five. People aren't staying in downtown. And another thing is they don't spend much time in downtown.
They spend the least amount of time in downtown. So getting this, getting a project in that spot hopefully will get people
to spend more time in downtown. I think that having a hotel there. Will be. You know, will
have people be there. You know, people aren't going to stay in a hotel and go sit in the room at 8:00 or 6:00. They're going
to go out on the street. They're going to want to go out and see what's happening in downtown. And right now, you know, I, I get a little
frustrated when I look at downtown and I look at storefronts either closed, not, you know, not being operated.
And, you know, one of my favorite things to do in my with my granddaughter is to we have after we have dinner, we go to the Orange Cycle Creamery
so she can get her ice cream. And then after she gets her ice cream, we want to walk up and down downtown. The first place we want to go is to the little baby store because she's only
two years old, but the baby store is closed. Then the next place we want to go is to one amazing find, because you always have some little toys
and but it's closed. So I agree with our our my fellow Commissioner Coolio's that we need, we need a little some
nightlife in downtown. We need downtown to be open more. And right now it's it's 6:00. It's it's dead. And I think that this having the hotel there
will keep have people that are again are going to want to go out on the street and start doing some things. And hopefully those stores will open up and we'll have a all of
downtown be vibrant. So. So then I look at tourism. Will the project attract outside visitors? Again? The whole
concept of a hotel that will, you know, when you look at I'm on YouTube and I see, you know, the all the these little spots
about Florida and the, the, the places to go in Florida Tarpons always on these little lists. The little gems of the of Florida people that need to go
to Tarpon Springs. And we do have enough things to do for people to stay here. We do. But again, they don't have housing to stay. It's not the same being on us 19. It's it's just
not you don't feel like you're in tarpon. People want to stay here, walk around, go have a go, have a drink and and and
partake of the of the town. I do believe that this hotel is. This is the right spot for hotel, I believe. Absolutely the right spot for hotel. For
the reasons that I just said that. I think that having, again, people staying downtown, spending their nights downtown,
getting up in the morning and having their breakfast downtown is going to help attract. And it's a great place to be. I, you know, whenever I go travel,
I like to stay in the town, whether it's in Savannah, whether it's in Charleston, North Carolina, South Carolina, you know, you want to stay in this town where you can get out
and in the morning you don't want to get in your car to go to a place for breakfast. You want to go get, you know, walk outside the hotel, outside your
room, and you want to go find a nice place to have a cup of coffee and a breakfast. And so again, it's it's really going to be exciting to have a hotel
in downtown. The reason that I asked each of the presenters how much they thought their project was going to cost. I
asked it for two reasons. First is one of the the positives for our city is taxable value. You
know, we have to, you know, we need taxes to to to run this city. And I was obviously the
Tarpon registry being a a very permanent place is going to be the highest taxed. Highest
taxed the. Of all these three. It's going to get it's going to create the most ad valorem tax. I think it probably will create the more most sales tax as well,
in that it will. You're going to have the retail spaces that will create sales tax. And then you're going to have all the sales and the tourism taxes
we're going to get from the hotel as well. So but for sure it will be the one that creates the most ad valorem tax for the city. That leads into my next
item, which is viability. Will the project have lasting benefit to warrant the loss of control? This was the the the biggest one for me. And and
don't take this. The wrong way, but the Agora downtown, which I think is a great idea and I don't want to lose that. I think there is spots for the
Agora downtown. I think we could have both of these things. But here was, you know, I was talking to a friend of mine and
they were, oh, you know, Gore would be more fun and this and that. And I'm like, yeah, I probably would be a lot of fun. But here's a a huge criteria
for me with the Tarpon registry. We have a building, we have a brick and mortar building that we know will be there ten years,
20 years, 30 years, 40, 50 years from now. We know what it is. It's the only one of the three that I believe it gives
us that stability. But if we go with and one of the questions I asked here of the Agora was these modules, can they are
they movable? What would be a nightmare for us as a community and would not would be something that would haunt all
of us. Sitting up here is that we give this property, no matter what we're doing, whether we sell it to you guys. I don't care if we sold it to
you for 30,000 or $300,000. The most important factor is that we control the city, controls what goes in that spot. Nothing's more important than
that. The money is, you know, we have $100 million budget. So whether we get that money or we don't get that money is not as important as the we control
that spot. And if we give that spot to the, the the module situation, what if it doesn't
work? And five years from now, ten years from now, we don't have control of that property. And I can't do that. I can't I can't vote for that. So I know
that the building is going to be there because it's it's a permanent structure. So I, I'm comfortable that we don't we're
that we're not going to be in that predicament with the building. The other is the principles are the principles in the projects experienced and capable of delivering. Mr.
Harrington, I saw your, you know, your backup. That was in all the material. I've seen what you've done. I'm excited that you're going to be part of
doing something in Tarpon Springs. Obviously, you come back home to roost and and you're going to do something special. And I think it's going to be great. And I that alone,
besides Casey Smith, who I believe has the most vibrant store in retail in downtown Tarpon, she's done a great
thing for downtown because I just I really do believe she runs has the best business in downtown right now in retail. And that's really what we need downtown. We need we need
housing. We need hotel. We need dining. We need retail. That's what downtown needs. It's a place for us to come and people to spend money, tourists to
come and places to eat and stay. So I think Agora would be excellent in in the downtown area. I think that if everything goes the way that we
all want it to go, where we get the parking garage, we expand the downtown, we expand Safford Avenue. It's not going to happen. Probably on on it won't
happen on my watch. It won't happen on most of the people up here. But we can start the process, lay the seeds for a
vibrant future of downtown. I think the Agora concept, it would be amazing in in a lot of locations in downtown, just not
in that spot. So I think that again, the, you know, was was the what I always have gone back to as my guiding principle
when making decisions in Tarpon is preserving and progressing what preserves the the feeling,
the the the whole concept of of our town, what preserves our our heritage and what also progresses us forward. And in
this case, I think it's Tarpon registry. So with that said Commissioner Banther, yes. Thank you. You know, ultimately it's not about what any one of
us want, you know, in that, in that, in that specific lot, it's about what is best for the town. I was a big proponent as we we've been at this. And for anyone that's new that this is not something that that came
about recently. This has been from my first term back in 2013. We've tried many different times. I was a huge fan of of of the CrossFit Tarpon project that we approved in 2018 or
2019, which was one of the Agora people. And that would have been a great concept that that that's that's what I would have loved as a, as a, as a, as a, as a, as a gym rat. But it
wasn't it wasn't feasible. Right. So in my opinion, as a real estate broker, I'm always looking for what for what what is the highest and and best use
for any, any, any, any specific property. You know, we, we have been arguing about about hotels up here since since, since since since since since since I
was in Cub Scouts and and Anita was the mayor. And I just think that, you know, a a boutique hotel in the downtown area is
what is best used. The is what is best for that, for that, for that actual space. And also would that, would that be considered? It's it is it is
very important to me that any project we choose is in keeping with the historic district in our, in, in our, in our, in our design guidelines. I, I love the concept of Agora and I
really hope that that is successful in, in a, in a, in a different part of town. But there's just no way that with our, with our, you know, rules that that we have here that we
can, you know, support any kind of shipping containers and vacant lots. And in the downtown area, it's just not in keeping with our with our historic district. And also
going back to my original point that we've been at this for 3 or 4 rounds now that whoever we choose has the financial capacity to, to, to, to like,
you know, perform. And I believe the, the registry group has that they have the I think they also had the most realistic, you know, projection of cost as well. You know, you
know, I think the for the, for the, for the $4 million dollar mark is very reasonable. And they have the best opportunity to, to, I think get this done
quickly as well. And also I think it's an appropriate retail space. I like the Agora concept of this micro retail. But I am concerned, as you know, one of the brokers, my
brokerage does a lot of leasing and management of downtown. And that would that would be a lot of retail space to fill. And I agree with the the latest comments from the, from the
record shop that we need to be mindful of the existing tenants downtown and how we choose this project. I very much like that, Casey said. She would be, you
know, managing and and running the, the, you know, the, the actual, you know, retail space and that we're not going to be having to lease out ten, 20
units. And again, it just goes back to I think a hotel has been our long time need here. I know that it was not success that it was not, you know, suc suc cessful in the, you know,
in the, in the, in the, in the sponge docks. But I think if you go to most upscale, you know, like, you know, like, you know boutique style towns, you have these hotels there and you
know, somebody whose wife is from Seattle and I don't have a, a, a like gigantic home. You have to have space for people to, to come here and stay. It
can't always be Airbnbs. Right. So I think with all this in mind, I think the, the the registry is the clear choice. And again, tonight is not about everything you saw up there is
going to be exactly it. This is just us approving staff to start negotiating. A lot of things can change. There's a lot of things that we have to make sure are in compliance with our historic guidelines.
My colleagues up here made made some very good points about more community space. Night night night, night time, event space or spaces for you know you know, you know more more
more of a setback from from the street. All those are very important. And those will be flushed out in the different staff approvals. And I assume ultimately coming back to, to this, to, to this board for,
for for final approval. So that's why I support this, this, this, this, this, this concept tonight. And I, I just really hope that this is our final go
around and that the and that the registry can, can, can can be a great success downtown. Thank you. Commissioner.
Commissioner. Commissioner Donato. I too strongly feel and I want to thank thank our staff that that went through and and
and provided us with the material they did. And I want to thank all the presenters here this evening. All three of you and I. And I want the
second and the third presenters to to realize that there's a place here for you as well, maybe not in that particular lot, but there is a place here
and we tarpon can work with you. But I do feel the best use at this time, even though there are different locations for the hotel for all, all three of the facilities actually available
in this town, there's different locations, but it's obvious to me that the registry wants to be on this lot, and we've already determined that there's
been a need, and my colleagues have talked to have talked about those needs and fulfilling them. And I just I don't want anyone to leave disappointed with the
presenters because as I say, we do have a place for you. We're working diligently. Staff is is already almost in the, well, almost complete. Not quite. I
think by December, the end of the year, we'll have even more plans for the downtown area that we're going to bring to you. So this no means no, but I
do support the registry at this time. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner. Yes, yes. I want to thank everyone for being here tonight. I want to thank the Smith grooming Mr. Smith
and Graham for his presentation, as well as the Agora Downtown Group. I think the open air concepts were great concepts. It's just by feeling the board
out, it's not. They're both not going to get the support for number one. And so my job is to make sure that this building or structure, whatever comes in,
is in a way that could meet some of the code, but definitely go above and beyond some of the code. And so I think, I think the registry
does a good job in trying to implement a little bit of everything. That doesn't mean there go all the way. You know, they still have to go through a lot of process for invitation,
to negotiate, to work with staff. And at the end of the day, they got to come back in front of us. And and so I want to make it clear with them and what staff, what I expect out of this building. And I've
expressed it from the beginning when we first started, started go out for this invitation to negotiate. I want to ask our city manager, sir, how confident are we in this
parking, you know, parking building by the little tour? Have we had communication with him recently? Again? I know he was, you know. Well, last time we we met with him, he said he
would give us first right of refusal. Okay. When he retires. Well, that's a big deal. So that is a big deal. The the far
right now is, I believe, 2.0, which means if the property I think it's 8000ft■!S the way it, you can build 16,000 on two stories. You're permitted right
by right. Or you can build that. Or you can build 16,000 by conditional use up to three stories. Well, what this property looks like, it's done. It's sort of cut away some of
the potential up to the 2.0 f.a.r. By the way, it's cut out with the courtyard and stuff. And so I've really tried to stress how, just like Mr. Harrington presented that Leed
silver building with the rooftop roof garden thing, I would like to see something like that on the first half of the building, the first 4000ft■S on top of that third floor
facing the downtown area. And the reason why it's important, I believe that could be a good hook for the community as well as a viable area for everyone to, to to be able to come
together and have a drink or eat. And as one of the residents stated, the importance of having an entertainment place like that, it helps keep even some of the patrons there busy, because right now our downtown's going
to take a little bit of time for it to get busy or stay busy with some of those restaurants and other night events businesses staying open till 9
p.m. or or after 9 or 10 p.m. So we want to try to build that a little bit, and I don't mind going up a third story, but I think if the back half of that building is used to optimize
some rooms, you can get about 18 to 20 plus with the great architectural work and design work, you know, if that entertainment front roof garden thing doesn't work out, there's
always ways to restructure and come back for additional rooms. And so I. I like the idea. I do
wish that there was another application that, you know, it didn't make the it didn't make the cut because it wasn't presented in a good way. I would like to have seen what that was. That was Mr. Stamper from Johnny's Filling Station.
But how you present and when you're supposed to present some stuff does take into effect. So as well as I know we talked about security, but at the same time, any new business that
opens up in Tarpon Springs is going to be, you know, security related. We're always going to have to deal with, you know, everything around it. And I don't think we should try to
pick at each application for security purposes, for law enforcement and everything, you know, just can't be everywhere at the same time. Plus, we have a lot of security cameras in
that downtown, and I'm sure. Patrolling is will be popular. You know, we'll always be consistent over there. So I'm willing to move forward with
the registry. But I got a lot of demands, obviously, for the community as well. I think they're great incentives for for them to be able to build on top of and support one another
and, and support the whole downtown area. So let's just see where it goes from here. But at the same time, I'd like for us to be able to talk about some more incentives that we could give them to work with
staff to see what this final product could look like. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you mayor. So I have a couple of
clarifications because I'm ADHD and I need to clarify certain things. People spoke about the
these trailer facilities that they don't last. These things are made to last. They're shipped across the water. Just so you know, there are 14 gauge.
They last 25 plus years. They're not you know, what was presented as they're flimsy or they could be I mean, anything could be removed. So I did want
to, you know, make that clarification. There was another comment that was made about that. We turned down 80
room hotels. That was not the case at all. We asked for 50 room boutique hotel. They presented 99. And they did a
survey just so that you all know what was decided and why. There was a estimate of 600 vehicles a day coming through there by their people, not by us. And it would have tied up
the sponge docks. It would have tied up Roosevelt. And so we said no to the 99. And then the gentleman came back with 108 on the second visit, which was
sillier than coming back with 99. But I can't explain why he did that. So he got turned down the second time. Mark Licorice did have a meeting with him and
said, I may be able to get the board up to 8070, but you're never going to get them, you know? I'm sorry, he said. I may be able to get them up to 6065,
but I'll never get them up to 80. So he decided to not listen to what our city manager stated. He brought back 80 and he got turned down a third time. So when people may come up and
they say that we just were against the hotel, that offends me. We were not against the hotel. We were against a too many rooms in a pool location
that would have tied us up. You know, our our mission is to protect, preserve and rich heritage, traditions and independence of quality,
service and commitment and all of those things. As I listened to the mayor make all his points, you know, the registry
did hit all of those points. Would the Agora be more fun and, you know, maybe draw people to tarpon for events and, you know,
things like that? Yes. But I know we do need we do have Airbnbs. Not only the Galactus, we have a few others in town. I
do believe that Casey will be well adjusted to take care of everything you touch does become successful. That was prevalent what everybody said.
So beside the fact your project is the most, you'd be paying us the most sales tax and income tax. So I'm okay spending that
for you. So all kidding aside, you know this board got so many different emails. And you know, it's funny that just so that
everybody knows when we do get form letters or copy and pasted, we kind of know that it's somebody put out, let's let's
bombard the city with that. So I'm for your registry. There's two negatives that I got to bring up as these proposals
came in. I must have driven up Tarpon Avenue until I wore the tires out on my car and I got it. I have to say something to all of the store owners, the landlords. You all need to walk
up and down your street and see how poor some of your buildings condition it is in. It's got grass growing out between some
of the building. It needs coats of paint. You have issues where pieces of aluminum are wrinkled. And, you know, I find it
interesting that we sit there and we critique a new, beautiful building like what you have designed up there. I know those same people went after coach and that was a
beautiful building. You know, we have a historic town, but people need to get off their laurels and clean up some of the stuff that's there before
they come up here and throw stones. The other thing I was a little bit annoyed about was I do follow Facebook. I just don't make any comments regarding the city, but there was some negative comments made
from one party to another party and that never should have happened. Everybody that came here tonight and everybody that has put in their $0.02, it's
their opinion. And everybody thought that that's what was best for Tarpon Springs, in their opinion. And nobody has a bad opinion. We should never be
jumping down people's throat and knocking Agora or knocking Casey your place or even, you know, the Smith property. Everybody had their best foot
forward, including us up here. Everybody in this town wants the best for what Tarpon is, and it appalls me when I see negative comments, especially from business owners trying to
step on somebody else to build up another property. So personally, it offended me. I'm not going to point out any names, but those people know who they are. So I'm going to
support your property and I wish you the best of luck. If there's anything that I or the board could do to help, we will be putting you through the
wringer. As far as. Also, I liked what PK said Commissioner Coleus, about a having a a rooftop. You know, as long as I
get to drop the first water balloon off of it, I'm just kidding. If I can't have jokes up here, I'm not going to do this job. But it really is.
It's a good proposal and I wish you the best of luck. And there is a place, you know, I'd love to see the Agora project go
some place as well. I think it's good there also. But the issue is we really do need to have a hotel somewhere. And like I said, I don't know whether 12 or 24. I'd really
love to see that survey. So to know whether it's advantageous for you to get that more rooms taken, I know you're going to have some busy times, and I know you're going to have some
slow times, and that's where you have to kind of really get into the business to to know whether it's worthwhile to be just overbooked or under booked. So that's what I have to say.
Thank you, thank you. Unless there's any further comment, roll call please. Yes, Commissioner DiDonato. Yes,
Commissioner. Yes. Yes. Vice chair. Eisner. Yes. Chair. Yes.
Congratulations. Okay, so let's go to. You guys don't have to leave. You can listen, mayor,
it's 911. Let's go to staff and board. Comments. Chief. No comments. City attorney. No city manager. Mayor, I just
want to say in my redevelopment experience, I feel very fortunate to have the proposals that we got thrilled with the the registry project and look forward to working with them to
negotiate a deal. Thank you, City Clerk. Thank you, Commissioner Banther. Yes, thank you. I want to thank everyone here tonight. How how how how tonight stayed positive.
The the the the the like entire night. I had some apprehensions first, you know, and I'm very happy of how of how it turned out as far as like vibe and
attitudes. And I'm also very encouraged more so than when I came in here about about Tarpon Avenue. My business is down on the, you know, East side. I'm not in the proper down the
proper, down, down, down, down town area, but just the vibrancy that people spoke of tonight on both sides and the and all and all the shop owners here, some of which I'm, I'm embarrassed to say I didn't
know you existed. Right. So I have some work to do in downtown and and walking and and and and and seeing some, some, some, some, some of y'all's places. So I'm just
very encouraged tonight and I want to thank everyone who took three hours of their evening to come down here and take this seriously. And for the applicants who put in a ton of
work for this project. And again, I know, you know, somebody, you know, had to leave tonight and not not not not not not quite so happy. But as it's been set up here, it doesn't mean you are not wanted
in this town. It's just that, you know, specific space. So I hope those that weren't that that did not win tonight. Keep on trying. Thank you,
Commissioner Donato. Pretty much stated, I think it's a positive move for our community. And I'm thankful to all the applicants who've taken the
time and going through this and the fact I can tell you, I've been here almost 50 years now, and they started talking about
a hotel at least 40 years ago. So it's good to see us going in a positive direction. And that's what I would say to the Agora Smith project. I would I
would say to you that I see some really neat, neat things happening over the next 3 to 5 years. And we do do this right.
You know, we need better direction. So I'm encouraging you to continue to come back. I'm sure that you heard, but at
any rate, I'm grateful to all of you. I really thank all of you for leaving your homes tonight and being here and sharing in the manner that you did. So thank you all and good
luck. Commissioner Coleus. Thank you. I just want to appreciate everyone being here tonight. Shows how much you care about the town, about the different applications coming
across. And it was nice, fair, you know, didn't get too crazy. I thought it might I thought it could, you know, not knowing what to expect, but it was very cordial up here. We all
everyone got their thoughts and ideas out. I think this is a good direction to move forward in the community and just shows that everyone cares, and I appreciate the other applicants.
Keep pushing forward. You had some great ideas. It's just, you know, we we work with a majority board up here and we just we all try to do our best to to look out for the
community for decades to come. So appreciate everyone's time being here tonight. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you mayor. I do think everybody did a great
job. I loved every concept. I just, you know, of course there's always going to be a winner and loser or I should say a winner and somebody that needs to have it somewhere else.
But, you know, it's great. These are great things, great proposals. I enjoyed reading them through. I do have my rendition that luckily none of
you got to see, but I am going to be giving it to you, Casey, because I just wanted you to see what my idea was. May work, it may not. I'm going to be
very open to, you know, just sharing it with you. But I saved the board from having to listen to me present this. I just think it's great. We do
need hotels. We do need people to, you know, stay longer here. From the time I moved down here from New York, that was the number one thing of every survey that we did was that
people don't stay for the second or third day, and we did want, you know, from the time I became a board member, I always wanted a a hotel. The number
one thing that everybody up here gets is when is someone going to buy the Pappas Hotel and turn it into a hotel? Everybody gets it. And, well,
we just. I didn't say anything. It's just on the registry. Exactly. But anyway, I'm just glad that, you know, you saw that insight and you got to do
it. And I just appreciate it. And tomorrow I'll be in forward. Pinellas. Thank you. First, I
was curious. Starkey, are you a part of the Pasco royalty that's coming across the border over here? All right. Well you're welcome. Thanks for
thanks for coming this way. So. The I want to commend our city manager. He works really hard
to. Diligently and to make our city a better place. You know, he's he he he celebrated his one year anniversary as our city manager on Wednesday this
last Wednesday. So let's give him a hand of. He has really jumped in like even on this on
this item. You know, he's really put everything he's got into seeing our town progress. And I just he knows how much I
appreciate him. So I second that yes I know he's he's just I couldn't be happier. And you know I'm I'm proud of I'm very
proud of this board. I thought tonight we you know we we went through this. We. We processed
this project I think we're going to we know this is the first step. We have to, you know, do our due diligence now to work with this group to make
sure that this project is, is, you know, everything that we want it to be. Again, you know, there's economics. We could want a lot of things, but you guys have to spend the money to
do it. And it's got and you and you have to see your return on investment. So obviously we're going to work with you in everything that's realistic for you to have a successful
project and do the best for our, our downtown community. I'm, I'm proud of all the applicants. You you guys did a great job in
presenting you. Everybody, your especially that Agora project. I think it has great viability here in Tarpon. So please don't
give up on it. I think it would be, it would be great. And we'll you know, again, if we do what we what we can possibly get done again, you know, going back to the public, private
partnerships, that's how things are going to get done. Government can't pay for everything. But if we get done what we are hoping and working
diligently to do, then I think there's going to be a special place for you guys. I know, I know. And then and lastly, I want to say how proud I am of
our community. I, I haven't seen this much enthusiasm towards a project in a long time, and I don't even want to
say those words of the ones that that brought the most people here. But this, this one was really positive. And everybody had people had
opinions and they were sharing them and they were, but they were so positive. Even all those emails we got, I know some of them were, you know, cut and paste, I got it. But
even if they were cut and paste, you know, not everybody likes to, you know, to write letters. And they but they did take the time to send emails to us. I
tried my hardest to answer everybody back that that sent one that I got. And again, I'm really proud because the community galvanized around it.
And it's going to give you guys, you guys got to hurry up, get this thing done. I do want to be there to cut the ribbon. I'm going to if you guys can. I hope you speed it up. Okay. So,
mayor. Will you just announce what? What? No, no, no, you interrupt me again. Like, can I get through something? My mic's off. Got my mic right in my
mouth. Okay. Thank Maria. That's all for being here. Maria, thank you so much for being here. Okay. You should come to one of my Citizens
Academy meetings, like like like. The vice mayor, but luckily, you know. Anyways, we get along great. I love the guy, even if he is a pain in the.
You know what? So anyways, thank you all. I'm proud of. I'm proud of the city. I'm proud of our staff. I'm proud of everyone that came tonight.
And again, congratulations to you guys. I know you're going to do a great job, Casey.
You're great. Okay, bye. Have a
nice evening. Oh. Yes.