Friday, May 27, 2011

The Rivera of Longboat Key


The development of Bayfront Park being advanced by the current town commission is a quiet unimposing plan including a functional building, some nature paths along with a few recreational activities. If we utilize the Mediterranean Plaza as a large, almost free community center, that leaves all the land at Bayfront Park for other uses and possibilities.

What about blowing the doors off and creating something truly special
and world class on a spectacular piece of property?

Bayfront Park is a special Gulf-to-Bay property that might be developed as a world class beach park experience that rivals the best tropical get-aways, and will attract visitors and residents to our community. A beautifully developed beach park facility will be unique on the west coast of Florida, making Longboat stand out as a forward-looking world class community. Such a beach-front park would add immeasurably to our community image, while offering residents and visitors a beautiful gathering destination and tropical beach paradise experience.

The bay front property could be transformed into the jewel of our island

We have an opportunity to create the classiest most beautiful community beach and grotto presence on this coast of Florida. If we want to reinvigorate our community and add a community amenity that ups the bar, then perhaps we need to look at possibilities.

Particulars:

1) A spacious underpass between the beach and the Bayfront property would provide a first class beach facility similar to what is available on Lido Key. The beach cabanas could be run by a private concession and return a percentage of profits to the town. Longboat residents who presently have no beach access would enjoy the town beach. Having improved beach access on Longboat will enhance property values throughout the community.


2) A large tropical designer landscaped pool by the bay will offer a beautiful community experience year-round for everyone while enhancing our public amenities.


3) Tasteful concessions for food and beverages a cut above what is available at Siesta Beach. Anyone visiting Manatee Beach knows that it is a popular attraction on Anna Maria Island. I envisage a more refined eating experience in keeping with the quality ambiance of the property.


4) Parking needs to be creatively integrated into the design. The trolley can also transport people to and from the park adding capacity while minimizing space needed for on-site parking. Non-resident guests would be required to pay a fee and park at a remote parking facility. This should be a community amenity. During season it may be possible to run a "beach express" up and down the island supported by fares.

The town commission is proposing a utilitarian community center on the Bayfront property. The Bayfront property has the potential to become something really special on our island; lets not squander the opportunity to propel our community forward and create a beautiful compelling gathering place for residents and visitors alike. By utilizing the Mediterranean Plaza building to house a community center, we can devote resources to develop a striking jewel in the middle of our island that enhances our lifestyle and helps to bring the community together.

Bayfront Park Property - Gulf-to-Bay

We only have one chance to develop Bayfront Park  - let's not waste it. We have the opportunity to set our expectations really high in order to achieve something that will make Longboat special.

If we create something truly beautiful, they will come.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Change Begins with Me


Unpleasant reading - American students rank 15th in math and 25th in science testing globally. There are 3 million jobs available in America, right now, that cannot be filled because no one wants or qualifies for the positions. Perhaps the time has come for each American to stop blaming this or that political party or a disliked social pressure group for all our societal problems. If we, as a nation, do not change course we will become a 3rd world country in our lifetime. We can assume that all the other countries are striving to better themselves. I am not sure what we are doing. Whatever it is, it is not working.

I know most Longboat property owners have little to worry about since the great majority of our residences are 2nd homes. However, the relative wealth of Longboat property owners isn't enough to sustain a failing economy and educationally declining population. One commentator has remarked that Americans are becoming increasingly illiterate as a result of being predominately exposed to a TV based vocabulary that is geared to a 5th grade reading level. I had one reader chastise me for using too many big words. I thought I was merely saying exactly what I wanted to say and that requires using language somewhat above the 5th grade level. I wonder how Longboat property values will fare if our economy takes another precipitous decline in the next year or two. I wonder how our grandchildren will manage to find a better life if America is considered to a complacent, relatively under-educated society where everyone is plugged into some sort of electronic distraction.

The average American child spends 1154 hours a year watching TV while spending fewer that 900 hours in school.

Only 1 in 12 American families make their children do homework before watching TV.

By the age of 18 the average American child sees over 200,000 violent acts on TV.

Last year, at the science oriented graduate schools of New York University (NYU), not a single American-born student was registered.

A Harvard study found that current college students spend only half as much time studying as they did in 1960.

We are rapidly becoming a nation intellectually asleep-at-the-wheel and declining quickly if one looks at the grim statistics and reports.

The blame-game is not working. Each of us is responsible for being part of our democratic process, and that requires vigilance, critical thinking and encouraging our grandchildren to be readers and scholars and engineers.

My recommendation is to become as informed as is humanly possible by listening to all the conversations taking place in our society. Receiving your information exclusively from Fox or MSN will only expose you to their profit-driven propaganda. It will not increase your comprehension of the complex issues confronting our nation. Most of all try to mentor young people and try to lead them to a place where the process of learning becomes as important to them as what they learn.

Change Begins with Me.






A Risk-free Community Center Proposal

Mediterranean Plaza at Bay Isles
Our current commissioners are now discussing constructing a community center complex at Bayfront Park. Voters have rejected similar proposals twice by large pluralities. The only thing that has changed is that there are now fewer year-round residents and they are a decade or two older.

It may not be true that if we build it, they will come. Longboat was designed and marketed as a condominium-centric affluent seasonal retirement community. A majority of the condominium complexes are located on the west side of GMD. Most all have social amenities including a swimming pool, tennis courts, meeting areas for social activities and of course a very expensive beach at the front door. The island also has several areas of residential homes mostly inhabited seasonally. As always, the problem with proposing any changes to the current state of affairs on Longboat, whether it be a community center or a hotel or an expanded retail presence, is the lack or people 8 or 9 months of the year. In the case of a new community center it will be difficult to justify the annual 1/2 million dollar operating budget, much less the many millions required to build a new community center, if the center is under-utilized most of the year.

That is where my proposal comes into play. If the town were to lease the Mediterranean Plaza, located on Bay Isles near Avenue of the Flowers shopping center (Publix) for five years, at a favorable rate, and re-purpose the 25,000 square foot, two story structure as a community center, then we, as a community, would have the opportunity to see if there truly is the needed community support for a centralized community center on Longboat, before risking millions on something that falls flat on its face and becomes yet another empty edifice on our island.

Mediterranean Plaza is an almost perfect opportunity to enhance our community's social amenities, with little or no financial risk, while utilizing what may soon become the next commercial property tragedy in our community. The church on General Harris will soon be completed and Mediterranean Plaza will soon lose its last remaining large client.  

Making use of the Mediterranean Plaza offers a few advantages to locating a new recreation building at Bayfront Park. Mediterranean Plaza has ample parking, with more available at Avenue of the Flowers for large events. If the 25,000 feet at the Plaza is inadequate then the community center can be readily expanded to include Madison's structure across the street. That building is also in economic peril.

It seems to me that we can accomplish two objectives with minimal risk and cost. The first is to create a large centrally located community center. The second is to reduce the blight of abandoned commercial property in our community. Government has an opportunity to become a partner with local business to revitalize unoccupied commercial properties by re-purposing the structures for community use. All of this while lowering financial risk to the taxpayers, and facilitating the creation of a community center far more quickly than a new community center.

Looking back at my previous columns, where I have expressed a need to have a community center, I now realize that there may be a flaw in my thinking. Our aging population, living in condominiums with social amenities close at hand, may not want to expend the energy to drive to a large recreation center that offers little more than what is already available to them. On the other hand, I believe that we need to offer more community social activities if we are to attract a new generation of residents on Longboat. The Mediterranean Plaza may offer an opportunity for our town to have its cake and eat it too. Perhaps we do not need to endure a lengthy fund-raising process before we have our community center. At the same time we can quickly begin to develop community awareness and compelling community social programs using existing facilities and reducing empty property blight.

Mediterranean Plaza at Bay Isles would make an inexpensive large attractive community center.



Mediterranean Plaza at Bay Isles











Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Where Angels Fear to Tread


Juliani Kenney Investment Capital, LLC is in the process of purchasing the old bank building owned by PFG Asset Managenent and occupied by Montgomery Asset Management. Additionally Juliani Kenney are aManagementlso trying to purchase all the land bounded by GMD, Broadway Street, Cedar Street and Palm Court. These purchases constitute a significant increase in investments for Juliani Kenney on the north end of Longboat.

Prior to their latest acquisitions, JKIC purchased Whitney plaza for $3.7 million in December, 2010 and have so far been unable to attract any retail businesses to the plaza. At a recent Village Association gathering Brian Kenney described the challenges of persuading anchor retailers, such as Walgreen Drug or Panara Bread, to locate at Whitney Plaza. Brian spoke of drive-by counts and other metrics employed by retail chains to evaluate future store locations. Given the 2010 census figures listed below, it is little wonder that Juliani Kenney are finding it difficult to rent space in the now dilapidated shopping mall.

"The percentage of residents ages 65 and up rose to 67.3%, from 58.3% in 2000. The percentage of residents ages 85 and up rose by 46%, with 8.2% of residents age 85 or older in April 2010, compared to 5.1% in April 2000. The island, which experienced a 9.4% decline in population over the past decade according to the census, lost residents in every age group from ages 15 through 74. " The number of people who call themselves "residents" decreased 41%.

In the face of daunting demographics and lack of success, over the past few months, in attracting retailers to Whitney Plaza, Juliani Kenney choose to double-down their bets, so to speak, by investing in still more commercial real estate at the north end.

I try to put myself in the shoes of Juliani Kenney in light of their most recent acquisitions. I keep stumbling on the fact that the new parcel and Whitney Plaza are separated my Cedar Street. In addition, the northern parcel is narrow, by commercial standards, and thus difficult to develop without adding to the property depth. That can only be accomplished by acquiring Palm Court which bounds the property on the east.

To my way of thinking to invest millions in two commercial real estate parcels that are separated by a well-trafficked street is going where angels fear to tread. Prior to Juliani Kenney all of this land appeared to be commercially inviable. Andrew Vaac was not able to resell the bank building just as Andrew Hlywa was unable to make a go-of-it at Whitney Plaza. In fact a succession of owners over the past 20 years have all failed to operate Whitney Plaza at a profit.

Personally I would be worried about acquiring two separate and previously financially unsuccessful commercial properties without almost absolute assurance that I would be able to join the two parcels and widen the northern parcel. That would of course require that the town commission deed the streets over to Juliani Kenney. That could be a problem if the residents at the north end do not want to abandon the well used thoroughfares. At present many village residents use both Palm Court and Cedar street as a "safe" access route to get onto GMD headed south.

In several newspaper articles about recent Juliani Kenney land purchases, a few different threads emerge about how best to utilize the newly purchased land parcels. Brian Kinney appears to believe there may be a need for a hotel on the property. Certainly this is a far more ambitious project than the one previously put forth by Juliani Kenney of revitalizing the retail space at Whitney Plaza. It is doubtful that anything now will be done to the crumbling Plaza if a new "grand design" is put forth. That could mean many years of empty building blight at the north end while the economy recovers to a point where investors might be willing to spend tens of millions to launch a large scale redevelopment of Whitney Plaza. I can envisage an exclusive low-rise tasteful boutique hotel, beautifully landscaped and blending-in with the existing ambiance of the north-end as being an enhancement to the community.

There still remains the problems for retail and tourism created by an increasingly affluent community that spends only a few months a year on Longboat. Because there are relatively few people living on our island most of the year, it is almost impossible to make a living here if you run a retail business or tourist facility. Each new hotel/motel room, each new store that is built/opened on the island dilutes the already inadequate pool of paying customers. As Longboat became more and more popular as a winter retirement retreat, more and more real estate was converted from tourism to condominium usage. Even with many fewer tourism units the occupancy rates are still dismal. Many people who come to Longboat in off season say it looks like a ghost town. As on drives up GMD at night all the condominium windows are dark. This may present a challenge to anyone looking to open a tourist attraction on the island and attract year-round clients.

Perhaps the best and easiest solution to the dilemma the commission thinks exits on Longboat is to relax and get comfortable with what we have become - a seasonal retirement retreat for the well-to-do. This is a good thing to be if you are one of the 18,000 or so fortunate residents of our island. There is really nothing that needs doing. We are all doing just fine. Housing sales are coming back. We have finally achieved a stable retail/tourism presence after the build-out of the island. Let's just settle in and enjoy our beautiful community just as it is.

Ex-mayor Spoll recently cautioned the town and the commission about community reaction to inappropriate development on the north end. I agree with his assertions that the north end ambiance is uniquely "old Florida" and should be preserved as a major asset to out entire community. To his credit Brian Kenney stated "It’s definitely not our desire to build a monstrosity that upsets the town and nearby residents.” It remains to be seem if his definition of monstrosity is similar to that of north end residents.

Let's hope our development-fixated commission and planning board heed George Spoll's advice.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Newspeak and the town commission

Size of Whitney Plaza expansion proposed by our commissioners

Newspeak is a fictional language in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In it, it refers to the deliberately impoverished language promoted by government.

Today I met a Longboat resident who had recently met a Longboat commissioner at a social function. The resident related to me that he had asked the commissioner about his pro-development reputation. The commissioner replied to the resident that he, and the commission, were not pro-development. The commissioner told the resident they were instead only trying to restore what had previously existed on Longboat Key in terms of retail businesses and tourist accommodations. I am told the commissioner used the term "Keeping Longboat Longboat" to describe the massive revisions the commission is making to our zoning codes and comprehensive plan. To me this is Longboat Newspeak.

I want to examine changes to Longboat's building codes, density limits, building height limits and  sweeping alterations to the comprehensive plan being proposed by the current commission and town attorneys in light of their assertion of being preservationists and not developer-friendly government officials.

If the commissioners are really only trying to "restore" retail business and tourism to what previously existed, then logically the codes already exist for doing that, since the current rules and codes already allow what the commission contends are their only objectives.

The increases in height, building mass and population density to Whitney Plaza being proposed by the current commission can be viewed as little else but opening the developer flood gates on the north end of the island. Why increase the height from 5 stories to 6 stories? Why increase the density if only businesses are to be allowed at that location? Surely there must be logical explanations for such detailed increases to the bulk and density of the current 1 story shopping center. A retail center that has been only partially occupied for over 2 decades. Obviously there has been little to no demand for commercial space on the north end of the island for quite some time. And no wonder since there is 3 times more commercial real estate on Longboat than is required to support our decreasing population. One wonders what the commissioners have in mind.

And where will all the tourists stay? The commissioners assure us we need many more tourists in order to eventually sell units at the Key Club. If you were going to recommend accommodations for visiting friends, where would you direct them? Now imagine where additional tourist motels and hotels can be built on this island. Would you recommend a new hotel at Whitney Plaza, where the public beach is a long hot walk across a busy highway, or a toes-in-the-sand waterfront lodging? Which would offer the better "island experience"?

Why is the commission working so hard to vastly increase the building bulk at Whitney Plaza? What do they think will be built there that requires exactly 1 extra story and a much larger footprint? I doubt any hotel located off the beach could compete with existing waterfront lodging on Longboat or adjacent islands.

I am worried that for all their supposed good intentions for all of us, that the commission makes our exclusive community vulnerable to profit-driven developers by destroying the well-crafted codes and comprehensive plan that have made Longboat one of the premier residential retirement communities in this country.

You might ask a commissioner why they want to expand Whitney Plaza far beyond what is fitting for the ambiance of the north end. The commissioners have never asked the residents of this island if they are happy with the way things are in terms of retail, and if they are willing to have more tourists and traffic congestion to have more stores that will have to cater to tourists to survive. Tourism stores are not the same stores that are frequented by residents. Maybe the commissioners should ask themselves why in the past it made sense for so many motel / hotel owners to sell to condominium developers?

Current Whitney Plaza

Longboat Key does need to change with the times. We need to open up our social structure. We need to find ways to provide better access to our beaches so that new home buyers will be attracted to neighborhoods east of GMD. We need to have the town actively participate in rejuvenating our community activities and make better use of our parks and recreation areas. We do not need inappropriate development where none is needed. Most of all, we need to start acting like a community instead of snowbird heaven. People need to wake up and see that beautiful Longboat may be under siege by developers and that our current commission is the best thing that ever happened for them. We do not want to become a poster child for the now defeated Amendment #4 - Home Town Democracy.

Even though the above mentioned commissioner calls himself, as well as his fellow commissioners, preservationists, I do not believe that dumbing-down the conversation to the point where "keeping Longboat Longboat" includes large scale high-rise development on the north end is anything less than Longboat Newspeak.