Gulfport council left firms hanging
By RYAN LaFONTAINE
rlafontaine@sunherald.com
GULFPORT --Three of the nation's largest developers want to help transform Gulfport from a struggling, storm-pummeled harbor town to a Southeastern jewel.
Their work, an extreme makeover, would be funded mostly through federal grants and hiring them would arguably be the boldest leap forward of any South Mississippi town since Hurricane Katrina.
Maybe it was bad blood between local politicians or simply cautious consideration from city leaders, but whatever the reason, the development firms were left hanging last week without a confirmation vote from the City Council and their futures will remain uncertain at least until Tuesday, when the council is expected to revisit the issue.
A special committee, established to find a reputable developer for the role of citywide design consultant, began sorting through potential development firms in February.
The committee recommended last week the City Council begin negotiations with three megadevelopers, but the council voted to delay a confirmation until Tuesday, giving council members time to review the professional backgrounds of each firm.
Throughout the selection process, committee members were bound by a confidentiality agreement because of fear that leaked information about selections could make for grumpy developers and kill any potential deal.
For weeks, council members tried unsuccessfully to pry bits of information from those on the committee about what was happening during the selection meetings and the process being used to make the determination.
Not even Councilwoman Libby Milner-Roland, who served on the selection committee, was allowed to speak freely to her fellow council members. State Rep. Frances Fredricks, D-Gulfport, who was appointed to serve on the committee by Councilwoman Ella Holmes-Hines, could not report back on what was happening behind closed doors.
It didn't take long for the tight-lipped tactic to frustrate the council and they voiced their chagrin last week when they voted against the recommendation.
"How can the committee be put under a confidentiality agreement and not be allowed to speak freely to the City Council? Why does the administration have so little trust in us?" Councilwoman Barbara Nalley asked.
Nalley said the committee handed three pages to each council member before last week's meeting. Each page contained a brief description of the three developers and their proposals, which she said was hardly enough material to convince her to accept a recommendation.
"That's part of the problem in Gulfport right now. We're the ones making the decision, not the committee. And if we are going to be asked to make a final determination on something, then we have to know what we are voting on and we have to be involved in the process," she said.
The committee urged the council to begin negotiating with New Orleans developer Pres Kabacoff, whose fingerprints are on the Riverwalk and the Warehouse District, to redesign the 92-acre Veterans Affairs property on U.S. 90 as a mixed-use public property, using part of it for a convention and resort complex.
The committee recommended the council negotiate a deal with Memphis developer Henry Turley, whose Harbor Town community closely resembles designs from the 2005 Coast charrettes, to become the city's design consultant and help revamp neighborhoods and develop walkable communities.
In addition, the committee suggested Kentucky developer Bill Butler, whose firm, Corporex, has dozens of Hyatt, Marriott and Hilton hotels on its resumé, be brought in to create a massive development downtown.
"The administration and the committee were asking us to accept these developers when we had no idea what was being talked about in those meetings and how they arrived at their recommendation," Councilman Brian Carriere said. "I've since had time to read through each of the proposals from the developers and I think we're going to see some real action (on Tuesday)."
Carriere said hopes to accept the recommendation and begin negotiating deals with each firm, but during the council's negotiation process, he wants to grill each company about its detailed plans for Gulfport.
"The only thing that's being recommended is that we negotiate contracts with these developers, that's it," he said. "We would need to sit down with them and discuss their plans in detail, especially about the VA property and which buildings would be saved and which ones are too far gone."
Councilman Neil Resh agreed with Nalley and others who said there was hardly enough information available last week to warrant a "yes" vote.
"I still don't have (an information) packet or anything on these builders," he said on Thursday. "And another thing, why are we using out-of-state builders and not local guys?"
Other council members, however, say there are hardly any available local developers with the type of illustrious resumes touted by Kabacoff, Turley and Butler.
The council was invited to a reception in May at the Island View Casino on the night the selections were announced. Resh was one of the few council members to attend and quiz the developers on their plans for the city.
Councilwoman Holmes-Hines said she did not attend the reception for fear of violating the state's open meetings laws.
"We looked at that and considered it as an open, public meeting," she said. "I'm not going to show up and violate the open meetings law."
But the laws on open meetings are murky and weak. One part of the law says any assembly of members of a public body, including an "informal meeting," in which public business is discussed even though no action or votes are taken is consider a public meeting and the public should be legally alerted.
However, luncheons, ribbon cuttings, "chance" meetings or "social gatherings" of members of a public body are not covered.
The committee's recommendation failed last week by a 4-3 vote, with those voting no saying they just needed more time to review the proposals and history of each developer.
Mayor Brent Warr's administration, the committee and the development firms are hoping Tuesday yields a different result. They need one more vote to pass the recommendation.
Meet the big three
A look at the committee's recommended developers:
Historic Restoration Inc.
Pres Kabacoff, a prominent New Orleans developer known for converting old warehouses and factories into hipster domiciles, is the chief executive officer and co-chairman of the board of HRI Properties, a full-service real estate company and national leader in the adaptive reuse of historic structures. He co-founded the company in 1982, with a mission of reviving cities by creating diverse, vibrant communities.
The firm has completed 38 large-scale projects through public-private partnerships that includes 3,235 apartments and condominiums, 2,738 hotel rooms, 172,794 square feet of retail space and 500,000 square feet of office space, totaling more than $1 billion in development.
In its proposal the firm said: "HRI Properties and its team members believe that many of the historic buildings located on the VA site could and should be retained and adaptively reused."
Some notable projects: HRI overhauled a collection of six empty warehouses in New Orleans' Mid City neighborhood. The property had been abandoned for 14 years. Today, it has a 20,000 square foot landscaped courtyard with a swimming pool. There is 19,000 square feet of neighborhood retail with a coffee shop, wine shop, salon, personal fitness facility, restaurant and a farmers market.
Would-be role in Gulfport: To restore the 92-acre VA property on U.S. 90.
Corporex Companies, LLC
When it was founded in 1965, the company's primary focus was on commercial construction, but it quickly expanded its operations to include full-scale development. The firm has developed nearly 10 million square feet of office and industrial space and more than 2,900 hotel rooms.
By 2004, the company's portfolio included more than $1 billion in owned assets and it employs nearly 4,000 people.
Some notable projects: The Kentucky-based company has partnered with a local firm to develop $60 million in projects at the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, including construction of a 135-room Hilton Garden Inn and a 108-room Residence Inn by Marriott.
Ovation is Coporex's master plan for the redevelopment of the Newport Kentucky Riverfront. The $1 billion project will feature nearly 1,000 residential units, 200,000 square feet of retail space, more than 1 million square feet of office space and a 3,500-square-foot showroom.
Would-be role in Gulfport: To begin construction of a major development at an undetermined location downtown.
Coastal Renaissance Company
The company is a partnership between New Urbanist Henry Turley and Locally Global Investments.
When scores of urban designers gathered in Biloxi in October 2005 for a weeklong brainstorming session to devise plans for rebuilding the Coast, they may have torn pages from Turley's book of building.
The designs for Coast rebuilding revolved around walkable communities and picturesque neighborhoods, down-home storefronts and sandy beaches. There were ideas for sidewalks, plenty of parks and town gathering places, roundabouts to slow traffic on major roads, and lofts built above neighborhood shops. Turley's resume is full of developments that feature those ideas.
Some notable projects: Turley's Harbor Town community near downtown Memphis is hardly the typical suburban subdivisions of cookie-cutter houses, fenced yards and attached two-car garages.
Harbor Town is full of Southern-style apartments and houses clustered around town squares. The homes have small yards and large front porches, with garages hidden from the streetscape. Walking is encouraged along sidewalks or gravel nature trails. There is a neighborhood grocery store and a school.
Would-be role in Gulfport: The company would become the city's design consultant, advising and working on many projects throughout the city with an emphasis on residential neighborhoods.