- April 24, 2024
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Huddled around a conference table in a meeting room on the third floor of City Centre high above acres of undeveloped land, several landowners talked about the possibilities of a developed downtown: shops, restaurants, businesses, apartments and condos — all within walking distance of each other.
To those six property owners, it’s just a dream right now. But they think it could soon be a reality.
And if anyone can make that dream come true, they said, it’s the Palm Coast City Council.
“There is ready-to-build property under private ownership, but the city officials need to take the lead,” said Michael Chiumento, of Chiumento Selis Dwyer, which is located in City Centre, the lone business building currently open in Town Center (other than EPIC Theatres). “The city has to take the leadership and develop the catalyst — economic catalyst is what it’s all about. (The City Council needs to) exert that bold leadership.”
Earlier this month, six former elected officials stood before the City Council and said now is the time to look at moving City Hall out of City Marketplace, the location the city currently rents for about $228,000 a year.
The group of six asked the City Council to form a committee to look at the city’s options for a new home: rent, buy, build or stay put.
The City Council at a July 16 workshop appeared divided on if it wanted to create that committee, and so officials directed staff to complete a financial analysis of City Hall options.
That report is expected to be presented to the City Council at its July 30 workshop, City Manager Jim Landon confirmed last week. But there will still be plenty of questions, he said.
“We have no time frame,” Landon said, in regard to an actual City Hall. “This is not a project that City Council said we’re going to do, a far as the project itself. The only instructions I got was to bring back a financial analysis as far as rent vs. owning, and looking at the next five years from a financial standpoint.”
Landon, who held several Town Hall-style meetings in 2010 about a City Hall proposal, said the message he has heard from the community and City Council members is that if a City Hall is built, it should not be at the cost of residential taxpayers.
“If it would require raising taxes on our residential taxpayers, then now is not the time to do it,” Landon said in regard to what he has heard.
There are other options, Landon said.
“If Town Center (landowners) want City Hall built in Town Center, then we need to look at having (them) pay for it,” he said.
Long before Town Center was even built, the land had already been designed by ITT Corp. as the future center of Palm Coast, said David Lusby, vice president of Palm Coast Holdings Inc.
Buying City Marketplace or building along Palm Coast Parkway would be a “huge mistake,” Lusby said.
“But it’d be an even larger mistake 10 to 15 years from now,” he said. “A city without a heart is not a city. It’s just a community; it’s just a development.”
City Hall could spark more retail and business development in Town Center, but it could also stimulate residential growth, too. Lusby said he has heard more rumblings of residential projects taking shape.
“It’s picking up,” he said.
Tom Grimes, general manager of Hilton Garden Inn Palm Coast/Town Center and a member of the Tourist Development Council, said he has a hard time answering questions when visitors ask where they can eat, shop and walk around in one location. He said he sends them to Flagler Beach, which isn't a bad thing, but Town Center could be that destination.
"Those are the kind of things that were envisioned for Town Center that would be perfect," he said.
Tony Amaral, of Amaral Custom Homes Inc., moved to Palm Coast with his family about 30 years ago. His company has built more than 2,800 homes in Palm Coast and Flagler County, he said. He also owns a parcel of land on Bulldogs Drive and Central Avenue.
"As we have grown, we have lost that center, and we have just become this big, open space, and I know when I get the question, 'Where do I go here?' you tell people to go all over and that’s why Town Center’s concept was a great idea," Amaral said. "It was one location and you can park your car and do many activities."
Frank DeMarsh, of EPIC Theatres, said they built in Town Center because of the plan that was presented to him: Town Center would be Palm Coast’s downtown district.
“I see City Hall being here as just another element to compliment the vision that was established for the project,” he said, as he looked out of the window and toward Central Park. “The fact that the city already owns the property just makes total sense that this thing would be located within this area. For all of us, it would just mean the next piece of the puzzle.”
Chiumento said the City Council needs to look at a long-term vision and commitment.
“We deserve a downtown area that we can be proud of, and that’s what this is all about,” he said. “City Hall is the catalyst for developing a true downtown of Palm Coast.”
The City Council will meet 9 a.m. July 30, at City Marketplace. City Hall discussions are expected to continue at that meeting, and Landon expects to deliver the financial analysis during that meeting.
“The ideal world would be to reduce the general tax dollars contributing to City Hall by not paying the rent,” he said. “Is that possible? We do not know now, but those are the kinds of questions that City Council has asked us to take a look at.”
For previous coverage of City Hall, go here.
