SUFFOLK
The company behind the Obici Place development project Friday asked the city to buy back the 26-acre site, signaling an abrupt end to three years of work.
Tony Smith, senior vice president for Robinson Development Group, said he made the request after a movie theater deal - a major component in a development agreement with the city - fell though Friday. The CEO of the theater company Smith had been wooing for eight months notified him by e-mail that he would not be signing a deal to build in Obici Place.
"It's crazy," Smith said. "I never thought we'd be in the position we are in today."
The city sent an e-mail announcing Smith's request after 5:30 p.m. City Manager Selena Cuffee-Glenn did not return a message to her cell phone. Neither did Mayor Linda Johnson, who also did not return other calls during the week about the status of the project.
Councilman Charles Parr said it's too early to tell what direction the city will take.
"I guess that's just the way the business environment is these days," he said.
Smith had a Monday deadline to begin construction. That wasn't going to happen, he said, but he believed he could request an extension from the city if a deal for a theater was in place.
And the theater deal was in the bag, he thought.
"Instead of signing them (the papers), he sent an e-mail that said, 'Never mind,' " Smith said.
He wouldn't name the company but said it was a family-operated chain of theaters. He said the CEO told him "that his company and his family had concerns about the state of the economy and they no longer felt that they could move forward."
A theater was only part of Robinson Development's pitch to the city, which had bought the 26-acre site for $4.5 million after the old Obici Hospital closed. The city chose Robinson's plan, with the theater and at least 225 residential units and office and retail space, over two other proposals. The site is located in the heart of the city's downtown growth corridor.
Robinson Development agreed to buy the land for $4.5 million, but the plan hit a major snag when the developer learned, according to Smith, that the theater operator it had initially teamed with had misrepresented itself financially. A lawsuit followed and Robinson had to find another theater company.
More than two years after the city chose Robinson Development for the project, the land on North Main Avenue remains untouched.
Smith said the sudden withdrawal from the latest theater company persuaded him to back out, too.
"The overall real estate market has changed so much since three years ago," he said.
It would be in the city's best interest to seek new proposals, he said. Robinson Development might submit one, he said.
Bruce Smith of Bruce Smith Enterprise sent the city a letter last week asking to be reconsidered for the site. His company was passed over in 2006.
Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563, dave.forster@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Obici Place
Why would the city re-purchase property sold and put our city in more debt. After listening to the problems with meeting our budget, how about making Robinson live up to their commitment (even if the land just sits there vacant), and give the people in the rural areas of Suffolk their trash cans, maybe city sewage or better yet cable tv!
After all, we have laws in place that can be enforced that would make Robinson keep the property clean and neat looking (ie-grass mowed). I ask the City of Suffolk this time to think about its residents and its pocketbook!
Another bone-headed decision!
To put it bluntly this is another City Council puff project that has gone up in smoke! We need to get back to "core local-government services" and quit having our inept City Council playing developer. They are just bad at it and usually end up wasting our money and interfering in the market.
Now that this deal has come unglued, which many predicted from the start, we need to rethink this entire situation. I would propose that a cooling off period be enacted to really take a look at the possible use of this parcel. It is one of the last larger and well-located areas on the "Main Street Corridor" and is a congestion sensitive site that must be handled with care.
Another stupid proposal that will work against the community and squander this valuable site must be avoided. Remember, this is the same group (City Council) that brought us the Health and Human Services Building fiasco...
Roger A. Leonard,
You've Chosen Wisely
Old Town Suffolk barely has the financial fortitude to sustain and maintain what is already in place. A few national chains, ducttape diners, ONE Belk department store, a few gas and grocery stores, and a few brave souls who run various specialty shops and eateries-God bless them. Occassionally there comes a new, out of town upstart who rolls in, breaking bad, thinks they'll invade and conquer only to get balled up in debt and no business. In 1994 I considered a "fearsome threesome" IHOP or Dunkin's, Chick-Fil-a, and Valvoline Quick Lube in one spot. Getting a decent breakfast, lunch, or oil change in a clean, fresh, comfortable environment in Old Town was non-existent at that time. I'd keep the vacant land and sit on it for twenty years, ready to grab the two properties bordering it when available. When the state begins cashing in assets to pay bills, that VDOT property would be among the fi
We need some people fired over this!!!
"The city had chosen the company over two others in 2006 to develop the property and struck an agreement to sell the land to Robinson Development for $4.5 million" Give me a break! Who is responsible for this disgraceful decision. We better check the money ties, sonething stinks here! If this was a private business the stock holders would sue and prosecute the people responsible. We need the Commonwealth Attorney to get hot on this. For me I'm calling Richmond and seeing if I can get some action!
Headline needs to be corrected
After reading the story I did not see anything about Suffolk pulling out of the deal. What I read is that the contractor was about to fail meeting a deadline and asked to be removed from the project. The city was asked if they would purchase the property back from the contractor. Where is it that Suffolk did anything to back out?
The reality is
The pay from the retail jobs provided by mixed use development isn't high enough to live in the over priced condominiums located in them. At least Suffolk leaders have more brains than Chesapeake and have pulled out. If you want to see the future of a mixed-use project, visit Afton square in Cradock.