Lots on 14th Street West have been vacant for years. City approves redevelopment projects
After holding off on a final decision last week, Bradenton officials are moving forward with two new redevelopment projects along 14th Street West.
During a Community Redevelopment Agency meeting Tuesday morning, city council members approved plans for a three-story self-storage facility and 200 units of affordable housing on two separate parcels. Officials declined to approve a proposal to build affordable housing on both lots, one of which used to be the site of the Manatee Inns motel.
It’s a decision that was largely frowned upon by residents of the nearby Village of the Arts. The neighbors contest that a storage facility isn’t a product that fits into the area’s designation as a creative community.
“The city has to provide affordable housing,” said VOTA resident Matthew Farmer. “In my view, housing on both sides of the street is the goal.”
Pearl Homes President Marshall Gobuty agreed that affordable housing is lacking in Bradenton and promised to keep rates at an affordable price point for 15 years.
“This is something that we really need to do as a community. We’re more and more seeing that this is something we have to do and we’re still committed, as we were last week,” he said.
The Pearl Homes project will be known as South Village and is set to feature water and energy conservation, Google smart home capabilities and solar panels. Some of these perks allow the project to request a higher density under the city of Bradenton’s development code.
“Pearl is bringing the kind of house I always wanted to see there,” said Councilman Patrick Roff, who serves as the chairman of the CRA board. “This is 20 years in the making.”
The CRA had already heard three different proposals from developers at a Sept. 18 meeting. One of those plans came from Housing Trust Group, which has built other affordable housing projects in Manatee County. The builder offered a tax incentive-driven plan that would have brought a total of 100 units to the parcels, as well as 7,400 square feet of commercial space.
The council said Tuesday that it favored a more direct cash deal that would be set to begin in a more timely fashion. Part of that plan included Safeguard paying Mike Carter Construction $400,000 to build a 70,000-square-foot storage facility on 1.3 acres on the west side of 14th Street West.
Carter offered last week to dedicate half of the facility’s 25,000-square-foot ground floor as a new substation for the Bradenton Police Department. As part of the land sale, the agency would lose its substation that exists on the site today.
Police have said they would be willing to use the substation as a community meeting space, as well. The other other half of the bottom floor would be dedicated to another use, such as office space unrelated to police.
Pearl Homes will pay the city nearly $500,000 for the 3.3 acres on the east side of 14th Street. The CRA voted 4-1 to begin official negotiations with Pearl Homes and Safeguard Storage. Councilman Harold Byrd Jr., who pushed for affordable housing on both lots, cast the dissenting vote.
