Sanford:12-story condos on Marina Island, but city wants more standards.

Developer covets Sanford waterfront.
Project envisions 12-story condos on Marina Island, but city wants more standards.
Robert PeRez Sentinel Staff Writer Posted June 7, 2006

SANFORD -- A developer just wrapping up one large condo project on the downtown waterfront has another, even bigger one in the works.The Avenue on Palmetto's three towers would soar 12 stories above the city's Marina Island and include 409 condominiums, commercial space, an upscale restaurant and a parking garage possibly topped by tennis courts.The project would be just a few hundred yards from developer Bob Horian's other condo complex, the six-story Gateway at Riverwalk. The two developments, Horian said, would bring a commodity desperately needed to fuel downtown's long-sought revival -- warm bodies."We're selling a lifestyle here," he said.Horian isn't the first to propose intense housing downtown.In August, an investor group unveiled a massive, 24-story condominium a few blocks west of Gateway. That project, River's Edge, was quickly criticized for its sheer size and intensity, as well as for its proposed location next to a wastewater treatment plant. The site remains vacant, though the city still considers it an "active" project.City officials say they are leery of allowing more projects downtown until they can adopt some standards that would help control traffic, density and design, Planning Director Russ Gibson said.Horian, who says he has the financing available for his second project, has agreed to cooperate with a city consultant working on such guidelines. But he said that previous downtown studies have called for just what he's offering: waterfront housing with commercial development on the marina.For decades, the scenic waterfront has had sparse commercial development. Except for the Gateway development, the first phase of which is nearing completion, a city park and government buildings have the best views of Lake Monroe. The longest-running commercial businesses have been a privately operated marina on the island and the Rivership Romance, which sells daily excursions along the lake and the St. Johns River.The Avenue on Palmetto would drastically rework much of Marina Island by removing a hotel, two restaurants and an office complex, which are no more than two stories high. Horian also would add boat docks along the north shore.A handful of residents spoke against the project at a recent city-planning meeting. They complained about its intensity and potential effect on waterfront vistas and as well as traffic.They also criticized the long-term leases Horian and his partners hold on about two-thirds of the city-owned Marina Island.Under terms of those leases, Horian and his partners can remain for 69 years more and never pay the city more than $70,000 a year.But Horian said he's ready to offer an out to the city from the lease. If Sanford officials are willing to give him ownership of the western half of the island, he would relinquish much of the eastern half but build the city a waterfront park it has sought, complete with amenities, such as pavilions and public restrooms.Horian, who also has built two smaller retail buildings along the waterfront, said the latest condominium project is part of a bigger plan that includes building a new hotel and conference center a block away.That land is city-owned, as well.Horian has asked for the Palmetto project to go before the city's Planning and Zoning Commission next month. If approved, development wouldn't begin before the end of the year and would take up to three years to complete, Horian said.