St. Petersburg receives unsolicited offer for city owned lot, once eyed by Moffitt Cancer Center

City-owned land currently used as a parking lot in St. Petersburg has received another unsolicited proposal for development. The site, 800 1^st Ave South, has been previously considered for a Moffitt Cancer Center satellite campus. Property Markets Group (PMG) and Feldman Equities have offered the city $8 million for the block and are interested in creating affordable and market-rate housing, offices, and retail.

The site has lured unsolicited bits before, including the Moffitt proposal. Moffitt proposed an out-patient treatment center, hotel, and residential tower but Mayor Ken Welch vetoed the bid for not having enough affordable housing.

PGM and Feldman have proposed a six-story affordable apartment building that will have 111 units as a part of the development’s first phase. The units would be restricted to those earning 80% or below of the area’s median income. The group would then transfer ownership of the building to the city so the units will stay affordable indefinitely. The city would take on mortgage, upkeep, and all other obligations towards the building going forward. Transfer of ownership would happen upon closing on the land for phase two of development which includes market-rate residences and an office tower.

Feldman says the affordable housing project could take two years of construction once the project receives financing. The mortgage amount is still unknown. Next to the six-story apartment building, a 29-story market rate apartment building with 259 units, and an 11-sotry office building will 110,000 square feet would be built. The group is open to increasing office space, and a medical office is viable for the site location.

A parking garage will be available for public use, and 14,000 SF of ground floor retail is included in the proposal. PGM & Feldman seek to split the city-owned lot, which continues onto the south of Second Avenue S.

Third Lake Partners purchased the neighboring lot at 800 Second Avenue S from United Insurance Holdings in November for 10.5 million. The group has also recently submitted an unsolicited bid to the city for the lot at 800 First Avenue S. The bids do not compete which one another, and neither group has spoken to the other. The lot borders the Historic Gas Plant District. PGM led the affordable housing component of Sugar Hill Community Partners unsuccessful proposal to redevelop the district.

Source: Tampa Bay Times

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Governor DeSantis signs bill aimed at lessening the amount of policies at Citizens Property Insurance

By cliggittvaluation • 14 May, 2024

HB 1503 was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday, along with a provision. The bill says that lightly regulated insurance companies will be able to soon take over policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Under the bill, the insurer must have an A-rating by the AM Best Rating Agency and they must have OIR approval for their takeout plan. Citizens’ properties that have a homestead exemption will not be available for takeover by surplus line carriers. Surplus lines are insurers that have not been admitted to the state market. Regulation does not approve their rates, and dispute over a claim with a surplus carrier must take place in a court outside of Florida. Despite being out-of-state insurers, surplus lines are still subject to Florida regulatory oversight in some areas. Surplus carriers will insure risker and more expensive homes that the domestic market won’t cover. Domestic carriers in the state have already been allowed to take over policies from Citizens once OIR approves. Customers at Citizens must opt out of the process if they do not want to join the new company, but the law states Citizens’ customers have to go to the private market if they are offered a rate that is within 20% of what Citizens’ rate is. Citizens has around 1.19 million policies (as reported by data on their website), and lawmakers have been working to reduce the number of polices under Citizens to reduce the risk of assessments of homeowners’ policies in the event a major hurricane or series of storms wiped Citizens’ out of their ability to pay claims. Citizens Insurance has seen policy counts jump in recent years as the private market has struggled. Thousands of homeowners have been left to find last minute coverage when their policy holder has gone bust or imposed large rate hikes. In 2021, Citizens had just over 540,000 policies – and that number has more than doubled.