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| Project 52, a new mixed-use development in Beulah directly across the street from NFCU and adjacent (east) of Nature Trail--will have retail, restaurant, and other amenities to include a "Town Center" feature. |
I have recently been told about and I have seen conceptual drawings for "Project 52"--a soon-to-be constructed mixed-use development coming to Beulah.
Interestingly-a large component of this development will be a "Town-Center" concept at the northern boundary of the property--directly across the street from the sprawling NFCU campus in Beulah.
And with 9-Mile road having pedestrian and bike friendly sidewalks installed on a two-mile stretch from the interstate to Beulah road as a part of the 4-lane project currently under construction--this creates a very walk-able community. This is something many have been clamoring for...so, congratulations!....here you go, voila! It's coming!
There will be walk-able spaces, retail, restaurant, and a medical office facility--as well as over three hundred residential apartment units--within the footprint of "Project 52". (This project is directly adjacent to the Nature Trail Subdivision, and adjoining the 68 Ventures mixed-use project [Pathstone] that is directly to the east.) Pathstone, like Project 52, will contain additional restaurant, retail, and even more housing options---- 982 units total---all built in a walk-able manner complete with sidewalks--directly across the street and within walking distance of NFCU's campus and very near the on-ramp to I-10.
Once both of these properties are built-out and online--the nearby residents and employees of NFCU will have even more of a walk-able, bikable option for housing, restaurants, retail, and other quality of life amenities very close to where they work....all built and provided by the PRIVATE sector--as these sorts of amenities should be in my opinion.
The Residences at Nature Creek, another nearby residential development, is already well under way with their construction across the street from Pathstone and Project 52, on the north side of 9-Mile road--directly adjacent (east) of the NFCU campus. This development will have 232 more, new single family homes and apartments once construction is completed--within walking distance of NFCU.
So the million dollar question is this: With so much residential construction already completed in Beulah, and with so much coming online and under construction near NFCU already--including this new "Town Center" (within walking distance)---And you can see it all in this diagram, here---why in the world would we consider allowing for the development of even more high-impact, traffic-
exacerbating, high-density residential properties on our soon-to-be-acquired OLF 8 field?
Answer: We shouldn't.
As I have stated repeatedly---we simply cannot take any more high-density, high-impact residential construction out here in Beulah---especially given what has already been built and what has been approved and is in planning/design---unless and until our deficient infrastructure catches up.
I don't see my opinion on this changing--especially given what is coming soon to this area of Beulah near the interstate as I have just described in this post, above.
6 comments:
This is hardly a town center. This plan is some apartment buildings with a few commercial buildings of a small scale that will mostly serve the residents of the apartments. Depending on what commercial establishments want to locate there, it could be a small grocery, one restaurant, a few professional offices. Yes, congratulations, Beulah! That's all we need to serve an area appraisers have estimated will grow to more than 32,000 residents by 2020. Not hardly. By the way, unlike many who comment here, I have the nerve to put my name on my comments.
It would seem to make the most sense to make the motion Monday to continue to have the PEDC and FLWest maintain the responsibility to make plans and continue the process already started and approved on the MYIP to acquire RESTORE and Triumph funds for the build out for this property. The continued vote of the BOCC on this ensures the fair distribution of decisions for this property. I have discussed this with my commissioner also. It would be wrong to relinquish control of these public properties that belong to the entire county. It does not belong to D1. It belongs to Escambia County.
I think this should continue as planned when the swap began.
Hilarious. Things are going on behind the scenes. Does one need permission from a Facebook site to have an opinion? You are the elected official in the district. Vote your conscience. MAGA.
Wow. More development right across the street.
I doubt, however, that this will influence the course of the Beulah Coalition, as evidenced by Theresa Blackwell's response. Nor will anything else.
As a citizen, I wish that I believed that the input of Theresa and other Beulah residents actually mattered as much as Navy Federal is engineering it to appear.
Most people realize, however, that Navy Federal is the primer driver in this, as they have every right to be. It would just be nice if we could call a spade a spade: Navy Federal has been more than savvy at recognizing that Beulah citizens who have CivicCon associations would be very useful front-faces for their desires, which is charting the fate of development on OLF8. And if I were an executive at Navy Federal, I would be doing the same thing. Why wouldn't they want to control what happens across the street? Their history of expansive campuses is well known. Their desires to have their employees' needs met in the immediate vicinity of the corporate complex makes good business sense. That's called capitalism. Big fan of it.
What isn't captialism, to my mind? The County selling the control of the master plan--including the choice of the planner--to Navy Federal, while maintaining ownership of the property and, one would imagine, responsibility for a great deal of the supporting infrastructure. With zero guarantee that the TRIUMPH grant will be taken into serious consideration.
Does anyone with common sense actually think that Navy Federal will hire a Master Planner that doesn't have their marching orders from the get-go? And why on earth would Navy Federal play it any other way? That would be a dumb business decision, and Navy Federal folks aren't dumb.
How many months ago was it that I referenced at the podium the telegraphing of Douany in the context of OLF8?
As an Escambia County taxpayer, my first preference would be to maintain the idea of obtaining the 30M in TRIUMPH for economic development, *especially* if there could be a clause tied to any employer that a seriouss workforce development compenent was added.
But short of that, what I really don't want to see is some quasi middle ground where Navy Federal dictates what happens there while Escambia County retains the ownership and the taxpayer responsibility for support infrastructure. That's seems like a big win-win for Navy Federal, and a lose-lose for the Escambia taxpayer. Because make no mistake, if Navy Federal hires the master planner, it will result in exactly what Navy Federal deems the highest use for its own growth and profitably.
Is that a bad thing? No, of course not. Navy Federal's impact on Escambia County is a profund positive, as everyone knows. While it might be better to bring in another company for further diversification, an argument could be made for turning the OLF8 planning over to them so that they can best develop that property to grow their own company--which would of course have positive impact for our county (as long as they could be reigned in on too much residential, and we could get some guarantee of a reasonable amount of jobs).
If the County wants to give up the responsibility of the master plan, however, then it should just sell the property to Navy Federal for a healthy chunk of change, make a sizeable profit that shuts up the naysayers on the deal, and move on.
My vote and the vote of many people whose judgment I respect:
--Best case, hold the course, County hires and pays for the master planner, and we get a 30M TRIUMPH grant for jobs and workforce development.
--Still a good outcome: sell Navy Federal OLF8 for a big profit--I'd imagine they'd be willing to pay and then some--and let them do whatever they want with it.
--Really problematic situation: sell off the master planning with the delusion that the County will maintain any voice whatever in what happens on a piece of land the citizens bought.
-Melissa Pino (not to be confused with Anonymous)
When Theresa Blackwell signs her name to blogs, she is posting anonymously. She is a liberal democrat from Tampa who has moved here to live out her golden years. No one knows her. She has not invested in this area. She wants low paying service jobs to cater to her hyper-consumer retirement spending. She'd rather have Starbucks serve her coffee near her home than for some young person to have a career at NFCU or any other company that might keep young people here. I have family employed NFCU who would have moved away and started a family elsewhere. I'm glad they're here at NFCU making good money with promotion potential. I'll deal with the traffic for a few years to ensure great holidays together. I can't sign my name here as that could hurt the family at NFCU. See, I'm from here, unlike what's her name, you know the liberal democrat from Tampa, Theresa Blackheart, not to be confused with Black J'Aimee Rogers. When I retire, I think I'll move to Tampa, blog as a righteous republican for selfish things that only benefit me and my retired wants, and I'll sign my name; however, I'll really be signing anonymously. Just like Blackheart here, no one will know me, I will not have invested decades to the community. No, I'll be a selfish special interest nobody who is truly anonymous to everyone there.
Signed Anonymous.
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