Based on conversations with people who have behind-the-scenes knowledge of the process but can’t be quoted publicly, there seems little doubt that a Vero Beach City Council majority will vote on April 22 to go with the unanimous recommendation of its Three Corners Evaluation Committee.
That means the council will – in less than two weeks, barring any catastrophic disruption – anoint Clearpath Services’ exhilarating $250 million proposal as the official vision for the city’s mainland waterfront of the future.
And for now, anyway, it doesn’t matter that Indiana-based Clearpath Services recently lost its financial partner and, as the week began, still hadn’t found a replacement.
The Evaluation Committee members overwhelmingly preferred Clearpath’s proposal for the 17-acre property, where the city hopes to create a dining, retail, hospitality and recreational hub at the west end of the 17th Street Bridge.
They were so enthralled by the plan, in fact, that they were willing to give the group, which was notified of Westminster Capital’s withdrawal from the partnership in February, more time to prove it has the financial wherewithal to fund the project.
“There’s no news to report at this time, but we’re making progress,” Clearpath president and founder Randy Lloyd said in a phone interview Monday. “We had a meeting today, and we’ve got meetings later this week to continue our efforts to address any aspect of our team that needs to be bolstered.
“We’re committed to this project, and we’re committed to the city of Vero Beach,” he added. “We believe we’re offering the best plan for the Three Corners project, and we’re excited about moving forward.”
Lloyd would not comment on reports that he has spoken with representatives from Madison Marquette, the highly respected real-estate services firm that anchors The Blue of Vero Beach – the other development group that submitted a Three Corners proposal.
At least three of the council’s five members, however, share the committee’s enthusiasm for Clearpath’s plan, despite the current absence of a financial partner.
More relevant: At least three council members also share the committee’s dissatisfaction with The Blue’s $195 million proposal, which was publicly panned for being incomplete and lacking sufficient detail.
“They did the minimum to submit it,” said committee member Rob Bolton, the city’s Water and Sewer Department director.
Jeb Bittner, a committee member who chairs the city’s Planning & Zoning Board, said it was “hard to compare” the two proposals because Clearpath’s was fully fleshed out and The Blue’s submission was “almost skeletal.”
Those remarks were made after the committee’s proposal-ranking meeting on March 4 – and, apparently, The Blue group failed to show any willingness to address those shortcomings in its plan before being interviewed by committee members on March 31.
Why The Blue’s representatives didn’t at least make the effort remains a mystery.
Did they believe their proposal – which bears a remarkable resemblance to the plan submitted last year by the group’s previous incarnation, SuDa Investments – was already good enough to impress the city?
That proposal was, after all, selected by council members last summer, when they foolishly ignored the expertise of their Evaluation Committee, which strongly recommended Clearpath’s wow-factor plan.
(For those who don’t remember: One week after voting 3-2 to begin negotiations with SuDa, the council disqualified the group for violating the terms of the city’s Request For Proposals and opted to restart the process.)
Sources familiar with the interviews said The Blue group argued it was too early in the process to include in its proposal details that probably would change during the negotiations phase.
By then, though, The Blue group’s representatives knew that Clearpath had presented another spectacular proposal. You’d think they’d have used those 3 ½ weeks to make a statement – to tell Vero Beach they were serious about this project.
Indeed, it’s puzzling that a company of Madison Marquette’s stature would allow its brand to be tarnished by such a disappointing and seemingly substandard plan, especially when it had five months to revamp the proposal it submitted during the first go-round.
Not that it matters now.
The committee has spoken, and this is a different City Council. Aaron Vos has replaced Tracey Zudans on the dais, and he’ll almost certainly respect the committee’s recommendation.
Zudans didn’t, choosing to join Vice Mayor Linda Moore and Councilman Taylor Dingle on the SuDa bandwagon, rejecting the dazzling, $500 million proposal Clearpath submitted to show us what was possible at the Three Corners.
Perhaps they didn’t understand that Clearpath fully expected the plan to be scaled back during negotiations.
As for Mayor John Cotugno and Councilman John Carroll, there’s little chance they’ll override the committee’s recommendation. There’s no chance they’ve forgotten SuDa’s disregard for the rules and, worse, how quickly the group was to threaten legal action when the group was disqualified.
They know the city is choosing not only a proposal, but also a business partner for a long-term project.
Clearpath is, clearly, the better partner, with a team that includes: Turner Construction, one of the nation’s largest commercial builders; HOK, one of the world’s top architectural firms; Bellingham Marine, a leader in the marina industry; and Ennismore, a global hotelier.
Moreover, Lloyd has been engaged in the Three Corners project from the time the city first entertained the idea of developing the property currently occupied by the now-defunct municipal power plant.
We should be rooting for Clearpath to secure a new financial partner – something Lloyd is confident he will do, particularly if the council opts to implement the three-phased, 90-day, pre-negotiations plan proposed by the city’s financial consultant.
We should be hoping the reports about Madison Marquette possibly changing teams are true. Not only does the company possess the financial means to complete the project, but it also has a long and lucrative history of managing and operating such developments.
Clearpath’s plan, backed by Madison Marquette’s money and operational know-how, is a winning combination – and the city, if it’s truly gung-ho about this project, should do everything possible to make it happen.
That might be the only way the Three Corners becomes a reality.
