Winn-Dixie project hits county blockades

Winn-Dixie project hits county blockades

Commercial Real Estate by Robin Roy | Contributing Writer

County officials assured Steve Kossoff his $50-million project would get 'fast track' treatment. A year later, he's still waiting.

"I've been doing this for 15 years, and I've never encountered the problems I have with this project," says Steve Kossoff, owner of Tampa-based Meridian Cos.

One year after his company acquired the former Winn-Dixie distribution center and its 60 acres in Palmer Ranch for $30 million, Kossoff's Meridian Cos. is still waiting for a rezoning approval. Before he acquired the property, Kossoff thought the county had assured him the rezoning would be approved - quickly.

"It's been a challenge," says Kossoff. "But we are making progress."

That progress, though, has come at a price. In addition to paying on the property's mortgage, Kossoff's company has spent more than $400,000 in attorney and consultant fees to obtain county approvals.

Attorney Mike Furen, who represents Meridian, says when the company bought the property last January, the Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County designated it a "SMART" project.

SMART stands for "Sarasota Means Action Response Team." It's a program designed to give quick approval for industries looking to build or expand in the area.

Kossoff has been hoping to turn the nearly 1-million-square-foot warehouse - vacant since August 2004 - into an office park. He plans to divide it into spaces of 50,000 square feet or more and lease it to businesses such as food distributors. He also wants to build 145,000 square feet of smaller office condominiums.

Says Kossoff: "I'm planning on using it to create more than 1,000 jobs."

Furen says despite his client's plan to invest $50 million in economic redevelopment, the county unnecessarily blockaded the fast-track process.

For instance, Meridian wanted to reduce the county-required open space on developments from 30% to 25%. Furen says before the property was purchased, County Zoning Administrator Hank Epstein told Kossoff that if any site is a candidate for less than 30% open space, the former Winn-Dixie warehouse was.

But after Meridian acquired the property, county staff members refused to back off the 30% requirement. In addition, the county's Resource Protection Services Department said a pine flatwoods area in the northeast part of the property needed to be preserved.

That was in spite of a report by ECo Consultants Inc., a respected environmental services company Kossoff hired. ECo determined there was no protected habitats or species on the site.

Furen says despite that determination, the county attorney's office was going to advise the County Commission to deny any modifications to the open space or flatwoods habitat.

Several calls to County Attorney Steve DeMarsh seeking comment were not returned.

In November, Furen wrote a letter to County Commission Chairman Nora Patterson pleading his case and looking to get the Meridian development back on track.

Kossoff says since that letter was written, Patterson and County Administrator Jim Ley have helped with a compromise.

Meridian will comply with the 30% open space, and the county will allow him to build on a portion of the flatwoods area.

Kossoff is hoping now he'll be able to get zoning approval, planning commission approval and county commission approval in the next 90 days.

Even if all that happens, Kossoff says, this first project of his in Sarasota County is likely his last.

"Here I am, a year later, supposedly on a fast track," he says.