Decision on Monday

Maitland has been waiting for a new downtown for a long time, but for the last nine months, the city was unable to make any decisions regarding it. That ends Monday.

Last month, a judge cut the Maitland Town Center project out of a bankruptcy case, which involves Town Center developer Maitland Downtown Property Owner LLC. According to the judge’s order, the City Council can terminate the Town Center development agreement at its Nov. 22 meeting.

“Monday is the first time in a number of months that we can sit back and look at what the future will be for this property,” Maitland Mayor Doug Kinson said.

The agreement froze when bankruptcy was filed in March to halt a foreclosure sale on the former Winn-Dixie and Royal Plaza parcels.

The developer’s lawyer told City Council on Oct. 25 that Texas investors had purchased the mortgage from Mercantile Bank, settling the foreclosure suit, but as of Nov. 11, the deal had not gone through, City Attorney Cliff Shepard said.

Missing information

Transcripts of depositions taken during the bankruptcy case had not been released to the city for review as of Tuesday. That information, which would help Council decide the viability of the agreement, was promised Monday, Shepard said.

Also, the developer has been silent since the Oct. 27 hearing, and nothing is filed in court about the “Texas investors”.

Kinson suspects that the development company president, Bob Reese, will attend Monday’s meeting to provide information about his partners and potential funding.

“I’m curious to find out what position the landowner will be in with respect to funding,” he said, adding that the city wasn’t privy to conversations in the bankruptcy case. “I have a feeling that there may be info that’s uncovered with respect to entities pursuing property.”

Decision time

Kinson said he won’t make a decision on whether to terminate until he hears from Reese, but Councilman Phil Bonus said he already made his choice.

“I want to see the matter come for a vote to terminate so that the city can entertain offers and solutions for the downtown from any eligible presenter or vendor, including Reese and his successors,” Bonus said.

Bonus said that there’s a consensus on Council now in favor of termination and he’s confident that there are other developers who would be interested in the mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly downtown project.

“Within a short period of time, I strongly hope and believe that qualified, interested developers will start to trickle in,” he said. “If I’m wrong, and Reese’s team is the only one still standing, then no harm. We’ll go right back to them, right?”

But Kinson is not convinced.

“I don’t believe there’s a long list of investors and developers in line to take on the property,” Kinson said. “I’m in real estate and if you’re pursuing a particular property, you get a call from the guy, and I’m not getting any of those calls.”

Bonus said interested developers have been unable to present ideas to the city because of legal reasons. If the agreement with Reese if terminated, the project can be bid on in a competitive market.

Kinson is concerned that without a development agreement, a developer could come in and parcel out the property, putting a strip center with a bank and a restaurant on each one of the blocks.

“When we talked about that in the past, it seemed like a threat, but now it’s such a reality. … Is that really what we’re looking to do?”

The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at Maitland City Hall.