UpdatesHi Marcos…
You’ll get a kick out of this… I set up a meeting last week Tuesday
with the Duffy’s and the three sisters who own the storage facility and
hotel on the north side of the Brantley property. The girls were in the
$700-800,000 range and the Duffy’s wanted to set up a purchase contract.
Since you’ve met Keith Duffy you know how he likes to talk. He told
them all about this wonderful project he’s going to build and all the
exciting stores and amenities it will have. He told them he would
contact them back in a couple of days to set up a closing date.
He called them back yesterday only to find out they are now asking for
$2.5-Million. He was all ticked off, so I told him I would just contact
you and you could eminent domain them right out of there. He was all
excited until I told him you couldn’t do that and I was just kidding. I
told them to just offer them $800,000 take it or leave it. If they don’t
want it, just walk away as it isn’t a critical piece anyway. Now he’s
talking about building a wall around the south end of their property so
people in the Town Centre can’t see it. I know your smiling….
Did have a follow up meeting with Aldi’s construction superintendent,
Terry Kennedy, to see what OUA has proposed to fix the problems. He was
not very happy as they are going to simply replace the pipe under the
floor and put a manhole connection in the front parking lot. Aldi’s
isn’t happy as they don’t want anything running under their floors,
especially a sewer pipe of this size. I guess the City’s building
inspector wasn’t of much assistance either and didn’t even demand the
front wall, which isn’t attached to the substructure anywhere, should be
torn down. They are going to do it anyway as it’s just too unsafe the
way it is. They are also not happy about all the cinder block walls not
having any rebar or concrete inside anywhere. They are just hollow. I
would think if they were filled it would save a lot on A/C and Heat
bills.
Since this is an important project for the city, would you be able to
drop by the site and talk to Terry Kennedy, Superintendent for Schmid
Construction? I think he would feel better if someone higher up in the
City’s chain talked to him and so you will get a better understanding of
the issues.
Also… you may want to call FPL to fix a leaning power pole behind the
building. The wire crossing the street is getting so low in the middle
it looks like a semi could snag it.
Thanks… John
John W. Gurney, CWP PHR
Economic Development Director
Okeechobee County and City of Okeechobee
Cell: 863-532-2026 johng@okeechobeebusiness.com
<mailto:johng@okeechobeebusiness.com>
Board Member of:
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