Parrish could be getting a new middle school. District looks to make deal with developer

Parrish is one step closer to having a new middle school after the School Board of Manatee County dedicated up to $2.5 million for land in the North River Ranch community.

Haval Farms LLC, a company managed by developers John and Pat Neal, is poised to sell approximately 30 acres of land to the school board after Tuesday’s board meeting. Board members voted unanimously to set the $2.5 million spending limit and move forward with the process.

Both parties will get a land appraisal, negotiate a price and, if all goes as planned, finalize a sale. Construction is slated to begin in the 2024-2025 school year, according to Melissa Parker, a spokeswoman for the district.

“This Agreement is conditioned upon the seller making utility and roadway improvements to the Site for the benefit of the School Board. Closing will occur after the completion of the improvements, which will be no later than May 1, 2022,” the meeting documents state.

The land is about 1.65 miles north of the intersection of Moccasin Wallow Road and Fort Hamer Road, within the Neals’ master-planned community. Barbara A. Harvey Elementary School and Parrish Community High School, new schools opened by the district in August 2019, are located in the immediate area of North River Ranch.

And while Buffalo Creek Middle School serves Parrish residents, its address is off 69th Street East in Palmetto.

“This would actually bring the first middle school to Parrish,” said Gina Messenger, the board chair and a Parrish resident. “I think that’s a really big win for the community of Parrish.”

Her enthusiasm was not shared by Glen Gibellina, a regular at school board meetings. He said the board had leverage over the Neals, who wanted a school in their community, and that Manatee was overpaying for the land.

“This property, these 30 acres within the community, doesn’t benefit the other citizens,” Gibellina said. “It benefits Neal’s citizens. This is a bad deal. They should be donating that land.”

Pat Neal, the founder of Neal Communities, said the school district initiated the process in March 2019, and that residents would benefit from a new middle school in the area.

“North River Ranch is a community for kids and families, and they need to have every chance to get a good education, good recreation, good parks and open space,” he said during the meeting.

Addressing the criticism from Gibellina, several board members said the district and the developers would benefit equally from the deal, and that a final price was forthcoming.

“What we are doing here tonight is simply saying, ‘Take the next step,’ and the next step is not to go back and write a $2.5 million check,” board member James Golden said.

“I know there is so much home builder and developer fatigue in the county,” Vice Chair Charlie Kennedy followed. “Sometimes you just look at the agenda and it’s like, ‘Oh, $2.5 million, here we go again,’ but . . . I think this is a solid deal. It’s good for the school district, I think it’s good for the taxpayers. If there’s any problems we’ll find out and the deal will collapse.”

Board member Scott Hopes said the deal would actually save money in the long run. He preferred to avoid the cost of inflation, and he also stressed the ability to walk away from the deal after further reviews and negotiations.

“The studies that we did to look at the cost of inflation in our construction projects found that the cost of land in Manatee County is appreciating — the cost is rising,” he said.

North River Ranch recently sold its first 65 homes, one year after the community’s groundbreaking, and John Neal expects that number to reach about 5,000 in the next decade. John Neal, the president of Neal Land & Neighborhoods, said in a past interview that 28,000 people could eventually make North River Ranch their home.

“Single-family homes are selling like crazy,” Hopes said. “People are moving out of high-density apartments and condos because of the whole COVID thing. There is a shortage of homes on the market. I think this area is going to build a lot quicker than areas have in the past.”

This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM.