LARGO — The city’s new $85 million mixed-use development opened to the public May 19 after more than a year of costly delays — and as legal tensions over those delays continue to mount.
Horizon West Bay, the 87,000-square-foot complex at 440 W. Bay Drive, is anchored by a new Largo City Hall and includes 15,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space. The City Commission held its first meeting inside the building that evening, though the official ribbon-cutting was pushed to 5 p.m. June 2 to ensure all commissioners could attend.
Hours earlier, a small group of residents gathered at 8 a.m. to be among the first inside.
“I woke up early to be here, and my husband said, ‘What?’” said Rose DeMille, a longtime Largo resident who runs a local club for Asian American seniors. “But I told him it’s because I’m excited to see the new thing in Largo. I want to see how seniors can be more involved in the community. And I love to see how something that started so small has grown so big.”
The project has indeed grown in many ways since breaking ground in 2022, when the commission deemed the old City Hall at 201 N. Highland Ave. obsolete. The budget, initially estimated at $58 million, ballooned amid the 2024 hurricanes and other construction setbacks.
Parlor Doughnuts, an Indiana-based chain known for its layered doughnuts, became the first tenant to open, handing out free coffee and pastries to city employees during their May 18 move-in.
When the doors opened to the public the next morning, Communications Director Kate Oyer greeted DeMille and other early arrivals with swag bags. The complex features colorful murals by St. Petersburg’s Vitale Bros.
That evening, as a thunderstorm rolled through, the development’s 350-space free parking garage and covered walkway connecting the five-story structure to the main building paid immediate dividends.
“This is definitely a blessing,” one resident said as she hurried from the garage elevators to the main entrance.
Inside, the new, narrower City Hall auditorium was packed. Mayor Woody Brown and Commissioner John Lauser were absent.
“On behalf of the mayor, my fellow commissioners and the entire staff, I’d like to welcome you to the May 19 Largo City Commission meeting in our new City Hall, Horizon West Bay,” Vice Mayor Chris Johnson said in opening the meeting.
Legal concerns escalate
The commission soon turned to an item Commissioner Curtis Holmes had pulled from the consent agenda: a request to retain outside counsel for construction-related legal matters tied to Horizon West Bay.
“When I read through item No. 9, I was quite alarmed by it,” Holmes said, adding that he recently met with the involved parties to “see if we are going to get a settlement between our differences in opinion ... because you just don’t want to get into court on this stuff.”
The request followed an April letter from project builder Biltmore Construction seeking more than $690,000 in compensation “that it attributes to related delays caused by design changes,” according to city documents.
“The city as the owner denies responsibility for the delay and is concerned that the letter represents an escalated effort to shift accountability for past and ongoing construction-related delay issues,” the documents state.
“This is escalating right now,” Holmes said. “You got this letter from the builder, and we’re gonna go hire an attorney for between $400 and $900 an hour in court? Whatever happened to negotiating?”
City Manager John Curp said the letter was not the start of a lawsuit.
“The contracts governing the construction and design of this building are governed by a mediation process, and we simply would be using this firm to represent us in the mediation process as required by the contract,” he said, adding that “regardless whether we use this firm or our internal firm, we would be using lawyers.”
Johnson said his experience as a business owner backed up Curp’s reasoning. “You usually go to arbitration first, and you are usually represented by someone in arbitration. And it’s good to have a specialist.”
Holmes moved to deny the request, but the motion died for lack of a second. Commissioner Michael Smith then moved to approve, and the motion passed 4-1, with Holmes dissenting.
After the meeting, Smith offered his take on the commission’s new headquarters as he waited for the garage elevator.
“I’m on the record being very critical of it,” he said. “I’m a big numbers guy and a budget guy, and it’s no secret this project went well over budget for a number of reasons. But it’s finally open, and it’s absolutely beautiful. And I think as the dust and legal disputes are settled and more people come and see the building, they will love it. It will be an integral part of our city.”