At the most recent city commission meeting, commissioners approved the staff recommendation to purchase a plot of land for $5.5 million to construct a new Public Safety Campus on the south side of town. The city commission received three different property proposals.
One of the options proposed multiple lots forming one linear property cornering Polk Drive and South Monroe. Inner Harbor Partners proposed $1,600,000 for the property, which would require demolition and additional improvements.
The accepted offer, provided by NAI TALCOR, constituted two different proposals. The first was the sale of Towne South Center for $5,500,000. The second proposal included the sale of Towne South Center plus additional square footage for $5,925,000.
The commission voted on the initial NAI TALCOR offering, which was for the purchase of Towne Center South for $5,500,000 without the additional acreage. This price falls within the city’s $6,365,000 budget for the purchase.
Towne South Center has approximately 570 feet fronting on the east side of S. Monroe Street and 51 feet fronting on S. Meridian Street. The shopping center is currently occupied by 11 tenants with remaining lease terms ranging from one to 15 years. Additional costs would be required for the relocation and/or buy-out of the existing leases. Demolition costs would be incurred to make the parcels usable for the proposed Public Safety Campus.
City Commissioner Scott Maddox voted against the NAI TALCOR proposal. Maddox preferred to use city owned property in the area for the construction of the new public safety campus.
Parameters for choosing the property included strategic location, size suitability, development considerations, accessibility, infrastructure adequacy, planning and scheduling, and overall price. With these factors in mind, NAI TALCOR’s bid received the most favorable score based on the city’s criteria.
City staff said that the property acquisition furthers the Tallahassee Police Department’s mission to address public safety through community policing. Furthermore, the commission trusts that the purchase will “meet current and future operational needs, include recreational spaces, regional training facilities, and public safety services.”
City Moves Forward with Land Purchase for Public Safety Campus added by Christina Armes on
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How will this proposed new police station lower the crime rate in Tallahassee?
Are there any reports, studies, testimony of experts in policing, criminal justice, or criminology that inform us that this is an effective and efficient way to lower the number of murders, rapes, property crime? Did the city commissioners or city manager consult these experts and reports?
Our biggest and least talked about problem is with recruiting good police officers. How will this new building help our city find the best in blue to protect us each day and be there for us when disaster strikes?
Without good answers as to whether this makes a real and measurable difference perhaps this money is better making sure we are truly competitive in recruiting police officers that will have our back instead of a big new shiny building and a ribbon cutting?
There are many more questions but here’s another: is the building in a flood plain?
Inner Harbor Partners and NAI TALCOR.
Honestly does anyone think there are not additional layers of shadow corporations vaguely related and prepared to funnel the kickbacks, graft, and corruption back to our very own dirty usual suspects.
And what if they pay the kickbacks, graft, and corruption to our very own dirty usual suspects in Bit-Coin. It may be a bit of a stretch for anyone to think Jim Comey’s local weasels would have a basic understanding of how Bit-Coin kickbacks would even work.
Besides Jim Comey’s local weasels kinda took an extended nap after they “accidentally” let some minor legal BS regarding Scott Maddox become public in an effort to make us think they are actually working to bring our very own dirty usual suspects to justice.
Wake up FBI and prove you are not weasels!!!
So Snidley, you are far to sophisticated in your analyses and just plum over-looking the obvious. Eliminate all that isn’t and what is left is what is – this is your answer.
The person who cooked up this deal is none other than the person over Police, Fire and Consolidated Dispatch (with no qualifications for this position, btw) with a salary of over $190K per year – whose husband works for Growth Management. This is the Assistant City Manager, appointed by Rick Fernandez, CYNTHIA BARBER. She sold this bag of tricks to the Real Estate Section to process for her under the City Manager’s (Goad, who BARBER promoted, btw) approval. It’s the same concept as was used to ‘revitalize’ Frenchtown with the Renaissance Center; and we know how that worked out. Pour huge amounts of City tax payer money to ‘re-value’ an economically downtrodden and high crime area; so you can spread the wealth into these areas – so to speak. Look at the floor joists in the garage for goodness sake; they are all hung upside down with huge bellies in them….; more to that story)
The clue that you missed in this game is Cynthia Barber’s quote about it not just about land value – but ……(fill in the blanks)….you have all the pieces to this puzzle…FBI; just act on it.
“Look at the floor joists in the garage for goodness sake; they are all hung upside down with huge bellies in them….; more to that story)”
I understand that the joists in the Renaissance Center building are also upside down. So bad that the windows do not fit.
So, how does the office that houses the City’s and County’s growth management AND THE BUILDING INSPECTORS for THIS building so potentially (severely?) compromise a building’s structure – AND everybody knows about it with upside down prestressed I-beams and nobody does anything about it – FBI? The companies to do the work for the City on the south side have already been (potentially) pre-selected….; get it? Who’s related to who – to ‘manage the growth’? Connect the dots.
Charlie Foxtrot!!!
“Assault on Precinct 13” -1976, 2005, and now comming soon to a theatre near you.
That entire center is commercially uninhabitable for any tier 1 or tier 2 business. Pawn shop, Chinese food, knock off clothes and a Piggly Wiggly, sure. No Publix or Target would ever be built there. That alone should tell you that it was way over market and only a government would buy it with somebody else’s money.
I too question the cost for the site/buildings but not location choice. I also oppose the use of existing publicly-owned green space property for development. City should monitor vacancy rates in existing strip malls in city limits and not allow the new construction of strip malls unless it is shown all existing strip malls in city are over 75% occupied or developer pays into a mitigation fund where $ will go to buy vacant strip malls so land can be converted to other uses like more greenspaces, fountains, cheap housing, public facilities, etc.
Seems like the City once again wasted our money. If you were going to spend $5.5 million, why not spend it the smartest way possible by putting more towards new equipment to help fight the crime. A building can’t fight the crime.
I realize a new building would have come with any plan, but instead of wasting money on property, use the FREE one we already have.
how can land in that area be worth $5.5 MILLION??????
It’s not just land. it’s property with buildings. Buildings which currently have tenants and will be making lease payments to the City of Tallahassee. These leases have value – as income to the owner or a place to conduct business for a tenant. The City will have to pay to have these tenants leave(relocate) and enable the buildings to be demolished.
I realize that but still, $5.5 million?? As Snidely comments below, there are no doubt at least a million or 2 built into that figure to hand off to some of the usual suspects. Where is the FBI and their investigation?? We need a version of Donald Trump right here in Tally – only then we will ever see what’s been going on with city govt. for years.