Apartments were built on an old park. No one was supposed to move in until there was a new park

Bradenton officials insist no promises have been broken during the construction of two key downtown housing developments despite binding agreements between the city and developers.

In the more recent instance, the city allowed developers to build The Preserve at Riverwalk apartments on the old site of Glazier-Gates Park, in the 1000 block of Manatee Avenue East. But the park was supposed to be rebuilt by the developers, NDC Construction, at Mineral Springs along the Manatee River before the city issued a certificate of occupancy for the new apartments.

It didn't happen.

The Oct. 14, 2015, stipulation added to the motion to approve the project, which had undergone intense public scrutiny, seemed clear.

"The applicant shall provide up to $650,000 to design, permit and construct a portion of the new park improvements, including pedestrian and vehicular access, as approved by the city, with such work to be complete prior to receipt of a final certification of occupancy for Phase i improvements."

The language included that the money go toward improvements at Mineral Springs, which is doubling in size since the city acquired waterfront property along the Manatee River directly to the north of Mineral Springs.

"Everyone is insisting it's the developer's responsibility, but it's actually the city's responsibility," said Economic Development Director Carl Callahan. "It was a restriction they asked for, which is 100 percent accurate from our perspective. They asked us, we said yeah, and don't see it as a breach from the developer's perspective. It's us slowing down the process to make sure it's done right."

The reconstruction of Glazier-Gates Park II has now become part of a larger project as the city moves forward with the eastward expansion of Riverwalk. Sarasota-based design firm Kimley Horn presented conceptual designs for the new park earlier this year but after input from the city council, is updating those designs.

Callahan said new renderings should come before the council within a few weeks and park construction could move forward quickly from there.

"In a perfect world, we would have done the park right away, but there are things that took a long time to get done," he said. "You will see us move forward quickly from here."

The bottom line for any binding agreement is that there can only be a violation of the agreement if one or both parties believe there is one. The city could have forced the issue, but Callahan said the decision has been to ensure it's all done to the satisfaction of the city and rushing a project just because you can, doesn't provide the best results.

"I would say we are still doing the park as promised, but are doing it in phases that makes sense due to the circumstances and it will be done," Callahan said. "With the changes that have happened in trying to get the restrictions off that property and the property acquisition to the north for Mineral Springs, it's taking some time."

Callahan said the old playground equipment that was supposed to be refurbished by the developer and returned to the new park was scheduled two weeks ago, "but that equipment was junk and we've just decided to put brand new equipment in there instead."

River Song restaurant

The detour from binding stipulations regarding Glazier-Gates Park isn't the first time the city has opted to re-interpret its own agreements.

The city has been waiting for years for a promised restaurant to be built near the River Song Apartments, which in and of itself went through many changes between the initial designs in 1999 and when it was built.

There were numerous ideas suggested for the former "sand pile" properties along the river, including "the world's largest pool," a hotel, grocery store, a movie theater and housing . There was even talk of a large zoo.

River Song itself was initially proposed as a five-story condominium with ground floor retail and 40,000 square feet of retail on the surrounding acreage. In 2011, the developers wanted to shrink the building to three stories, eliminate the ground floor retail and make it apartments for rent instead of condos.

Attorney Edward Vogler, who represented the development team of River Song, argued that the 40,000 square feet of proposed retail was still going to be built, so the ground floor retail was something of an overkill given the number of residents in the area. The city rejected the attempt to change the development plan but with the ensuing Great Recession came concessions.

Fast forward to 2016, River Song was eventually built at four stories, with apartments instead of condos and no retail by Atlanta-based Hatfield Development. River Song opened in 2015 while the developer Bradenton Riverfront Partners, consisting of NDC Construction and Benderson Trust, still has the lease on surrounding parcels.

With the lease comes the requirements initially set forth in the overall development plan but that have changed over the years. The 40,000 square feet of retail was never constructed and the promise of "multiple restaurants" were reduced to building one restaurant, which still has not been built.

In 2016, the city council revisited the progress of that promise as River Song opened to residents. Vogler said at that time that there was still every intention of trying to find an operator run a restaurant at that location but the developer was not having any luck. Two years later with an economy on the rise, those claims have not changed, according to Callahan.

Vogler could not be reached for comment.

The clause relating to the sole restaurant was that the restaurant would be built within 90 days of River Song receiving its certificate of occupancy.

It remains vacant land.

"They've tried on multiple occasions but can't get an operator," Callahan said. "They don't want to run the restaurant so they don't want to build it until they can find one."

River Song has since been sold to out-of-state investors twice. The first sale, for $31.5 million, was shortly after it opened and just last month it was sold again for $33 million.

Callahan said Bradenton Riverfront Partners is still on the hook to build the restaurant, but the city isn't breaking any promises. It's just another example of the city waiting for the right opportunity to make sure it's done right, he said.

"It's still the deal," Callahan said. "We put restrictions on the sites they have the lease to that no additional permits will be issued until we can come to sort of arrangement with the restaurant."

This story was originally published July 6, 2018 at 1:33 PM.