Milton City Council rejects latest offer to develop along its Blackwater River waterfront

The city of Milton has gotten itself out of the request for proposals on riverfront property development business.

At least for now.

Council members made quick work of rejecting the proposal Miami-based Interrelated Construction Services Corp. had offered as its plan for a mixed-use development after Ed Spears, the city's economic director, informed them a technical review of what had been submitted turned up "several issues of concern."

In his motion to deny the IRCS bid at Tuesday's Executive Committee meeting, Councilman Jeff Snow added that the request for proposal on the riverfront project should be withdrawn from further consideration at this time.

The council voted to side with Snow and go along with the staff recommendation. The vote must be finalized Tuesday at the city's regular City Council meeting.

The rejection marks the third time in three years Milton has failed in its efforts to find a worthwhile candidate to enter into a public-private agreement with that would bring mixed-use development to the riverfront. Similar efforts to the latest one, launched in 2021 and again in 2022, also resulted in the city pulling back its RFP.

Original plans for the riverfront development had called for a restaurant, retail properties, single-family homes, townhomes, apartments and a centerpiece marina that will increase public access to the Blackwater River.

Interrelated Construction Services Corp's proposal may have been the most ambitious, if unrealistic, effort to create residential development yet introduced. The plan called for 62 townhomes, including four of 1,500-square feet, to be built on just over four acres, 282 condominiums to be constructed on 1.48 acres and 340 hotel rooms to be built on two acres.

The scope of the proposal failed to reflect the development patterns detailed in the Community Redevelopment Area and riverfront development plans, according to staff analysis, and much of it would not have been permitted under current zoning regulations.

"The density proposed is over 12 times the allowable limits of the property," and "cannot be achieved with the height limits, lot coverage and set-backs of the subject property zoning," the staff analysis said. "It is believed that with the inclusion of mandatory setbacks, height restrictions, lot coverages and parking requirements, along with the city’s desired 50-foot easement along the waterfront, the proposed development is unfeasible."

Staff also determined IRCS had failed to produce requested information about the firm, its history and key personnel critical to the team, information on the financial strength of the company or financial statements, while failing to disclose ongoing litigation, regulatory or administrative proceedings against it.

"A search showed legal proceedings against IRCS and Zingg had been filed in the last five years," the analysis said.

The determination was also made that IRCA might be hard pressed to come up with the $128 million it had claimed it could use to finance construction of the riverfront property, and staff noted the company was not in possession of several key licensures that would be needed to manage a development of the size proposed.

More: Milton has a grand vision for developing the downtown riverfront. Why hasn't it happened?

Spears had asked the Milton City Council in July to consider re-opening its request for proposals on the mixed-use riverfront development project. He said more than one developer had expressed interest in considering the city's plans.

In July and August though, city business was overrun by political angst as a dispute over the hiring of a city manager, and the fallout when the premier candidate backed out of consideration, led to finger pointing and calls for staff resignations.

After Councilman Gavin Hawthorne had taken his his fellow council members to task for creating a toxic environment, Spears confirmed Hawthorne's assertion that companies considering the riverfront project had dropped out of the running.

"I have had multiple parties say they are not interested at this time," Spears said. "I've asked myself, 'Would you risk your business, your money, your employees, your everything, if you had watched our meetings for the last few months?"

Redevelopment of Milton's riverfront has been a city priority for more than a decade. In 2010 the City Council obtained $350,000 in Tourist Development Council funding and contributed almost $175,000 from its own budget to purchase an aging marina facility with plans to expand residential and commercial opportunities and create a riverside haven for visitors and locals. The marina was demolished in 2020 with plans to rebuild.

Officials appeared to have latched on to a couple of good prospects the first time it proposed the mixed use project in January of 2021. Proposals were received from two firms, Jones South Development LLC and Bluewater Development Group for consideration.

Jones South Development withdrew its proposal a few months after submitting it, however, and Blackwater Development Group was released from its agreement with the city, and the RFP reissued, after the company failed to make substantial progress toward moving the project forward.

The city's second attempt landed only one proposal, from a Birmingham-based consulting company called Orchestra Partners. Its offer to do nothing more than put together a strategic vision plan, at the cost of $65,000, turned out to be nowhere close to what Milton officials envisioned.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Milton's Blackwater riverfront development fails for third time