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Real Estate Slowdown Stalls Safety Harbor Townhouses

By Mark Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: November 3, 2007

SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. - SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. - A soft real estate market forced the developer of the proposed Harbor Key Townhomes to ask for a one-year extension of the project's site plan approval permit.

The Harbor Key developer still hopes to construct 18 single-family attached townhomes at the northwest corner of Main Street and Oak Avenue, near McMullen Booth Road.

With the one-year mark since the city approved the plans for the townhome complex looming, however, the developer would have to go through the approval process again if it didn't start construction within 12 months or get an extension of the permit.

Last week, the City Commission gave unanimous approval to a one-year extension for the Key Harbor permit.

In a letter to the city, Kent Runnells, the developer's attorney and a former mayor, told commissioners: "As you know the real estate market is extremely soft and for that reason we have not proceeded with our construction at this time. We do not want to begin building a project that we cannot complete."

Matt McLachlan, community development director, said the downturn in the area's residential real estate market has created unforeseen factors that justify extending the Harbor Key plan approval.

Market forces are dynamic and are based on factors outside the developer's knowledge or control, according to McLachlan.

"Had the owner anticipated a sustained market downturn at the time the application was approved, he may have requested an alternate phasing plan," McLachlan said.

Forcing a start of Harbor Key Townhomes construction during a down market would not benefit the city, McLachlan said.

The current state of the real estate market presents the "good cause" city codes require for a permit extension, said Commissioner Nadine Nickeson

Other development projects around the county are facing similar delays, Commissioner Keith Zayac noted. When market conditions improve Harbor Key will have a positive economic impact on the city, he predicted.

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