CLEARWATER — Mayor Bruce Rector repeatedly pressed the Cleveland Street Alliance to identify the investors behind its proposed downtown development during a special City Council work session May 28, but came away without answers.
Council member Mike Mannino called the session, Rector said, “for the fairly narrow purpose of discussing business activity development between Osceola and Myrtle in downtown Clearwater on Cleveland Street.”
Cleveland Street Alliance representatives, along with those from EVO Entertainment, Gensler, the Flag Service Organization and Myrtle Development, were asked to present.
Mannino said the meeting “marks a significant moment for Clearwater, not only because for the first time in 50 years entire blocks of downtown development are moving forward, but because of the nearly $100 million of investment on Cleveland Street.”
“It’s an opportunity to help shape a downtown that is vibrant, welcoming and designed to serve the entire community, not just for this generation but for generations to come,” he said. “For decades, conversations about downtown Clearwater, its redevelopment and the role of major property owners, including the Church of Scientology and its development partners, have drawn intense public interest, concern, speculation and at times frustration.”
“Tonight we’re choosing a different path,” he told the overflow crowd, “one rooted in openness, transparency, accountability and clarity.”
Rector repeatedly questioned whether the city knows who owns the LLCs renovating commercial buildings on Cleveland Street.
Scott Dobbins, founder of Hybridge Commercial Real Estate and manager of the alliance, said the group is “a coalition of Church of Scientology, its parishioners, and a team of urban planners, architects, designers and real estate professionals — working together on the ongoing revitalization of Cleveland Street.”
The team has put forward “a bold unified vision for the rebuilding of Cleveland Street,” he said, a “coordinated approach combining historic preservation, with new activation, and redevelopment across the corridor.”
Roberto Jimenez, a senior associate with the architecture firm Gensler, said the firm is redesigning three historic structures on Cleveland Street: the Telephone Building, People’s Bank and the former F.W. Woolworth building.
Rector thanked Gensler but said the community wants to know what businesses will fill the vacant shops. The Flag Service Organization was not named as a developer of any Cleveland Street property, he said, and “the community is curious about what’s the involvement here of the Flag Service Organization.”
Dobbins said the historic renovations “have been funded by the parishioners of the church.” The buildings “were ignored for decades,” he said, and “the deferred maintenance ... rendered itself unleaseable to a real degree.”
Unified ownership is “an absolute competitive advantage,” Dobbins said. “By having unified ownership in a downtown core, over this kind of span of blocks, you’re able to lease and manage the project like a mixed-use project. Pinellas County does not have a coordinated Hyde Park Village accessible type of experience. ... We have that opportunity at basically three times the size.”
He said he is “at any given time, negotiating a dozen letters of intent.” The game changer for downtown, he said, was securing EVO Entertainment as the anchor.
Mitch Roberts, founder and CEO of EVO Elevate Entertainment Group, said he plans a downtown cinema entertainment center to draw businesses and visitors from around the world.
The center will include a restaurant, bar, gaming, 16 bowling lanes, an arcade, immersive attractions such as laser tag or rock climbing, and event and conference space. EVO will operate a seven-screen cinema anchored by what Roberts called “the largest cinema screen on earth,” 131 feet wide and seven stories tall.
Rector pressed again, telling Dobbins the properties are owned by LLCs and “the public is curious about who are members of these limited liability companies. ... They don’t want to be known for some reason? I think it would help the public feel more comfortable ... if they knew who are the individuals who own these properties.”
Dobbins said that was “more of a legal question that’s out of my purview,” adding that “it’s pretty common to put LLCs as the entities behind ownership groups.”
Asked who is behind Myrtle Development LLC, Dobbins said it “was put together for development of EVO” and is “funded by a series of parishioners, it’s not just one entity.”
When Rector asked for the names of the members, Dobbins said, “We’re pressing a little bit further than anyone here is comfortable with, disclosing specific people within an LLC entity.”
A representative of the group said “the investors, the owners, are not going to accept your opportunity to disclose that, Mayor. ... This is consumer-focused profit-oriented businesses that are going to occupy these buildings.”
Council member David Allbritton said the owners “are parishioners of the church that formed corporations.” The properties are “private owned properties, and they’re taxed properties,” he said. “Every other property that’s being developed down there, probably under a separate corporation on each one of them, which is standard in real estate.”
Dobbins called the practice standard. “We are aligned with wanting to be transparent,” he said. “I know plenty of developers that don’t want us disclosing the LLC behind any particular development.”
Vice Mayor Ryan Cotton said downtown has long been called a ghost town, but “things are happening, and moving forward. ... We shouldn’t just see Safety Harbor and Dunedin thriving, St. Pete thriving. It’s time that Clearwater starts thriving.”
Scientology “is paying taxes, they are the largest taxpayer downtown, the parishioners are paying taxes,” he said. “We need to not be driving away potential development and investment, but trying to welcome it as much as possible.”
Rector and council members thanked the parties for their presentations and said they look forward to the alliance moving ahead.