Pensacola is applying for a demolition permit to tear down the Pensacola Motor Lodge as it is in negotiations to sell the property to affordable housing developer Paces Preservation Partners.
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves said the permit would clear the way for the potential sale of the property to be developed as affordable housing, but it wouldn’t be demolished until the sale was closed, unless the Community Redevelopment Agency votes to tear it down sooner.
“We want to go ahead and get the building down sooner rather than later,” Reeves said. “And I know that’s, again, been a request of several council members.”
The city has been working toward making the 1940s-era motel an affordable housing project since 2023, but every proposal that has come forward required demolishing the buildings. A previous proposal fell apart when the developer failed to win highly competitive affordable housing tax credits that underpin most affordable housing projects in Florida.
The city sought new proposals last year for the property, and in March, the City Council, meeting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, selected Paces Preservation Partners to begin negotiations on a land sale that would require the developer to build affordable housing.
Paces is building two affordable housing developments on the old Baptist Hospital Campus: a 94-unit senior housing development called Kupfrian Manor and a 112-unit family apartment complex called Avery Place.
At the Motor Lodge property, Paces is proposing to build a 72-unit development that would offer a mix of affordable rental units at income levels between 30% of the area median income up to 80% of the area median income.
The city’s historic building preservation ordinance requires any demolition permit for a building older than 50 years to be reviewed for historical significance by the Pensacola Architectural Review Board. For areas of the city outside of an ARB review district, like the location of the Motor Lodge, the ARB can’t deny the permit, but it can require a 60-day delay before the permit is issued.
Since the city acquired the property for the purpose of developing affordable housing, Reeves said it has remained neutral over whether the building should be torn down and would let the market decide when it went out for proposals.
“There was a discussion, certainly for me early on, with the Motor Lodge of we would allow the market to dictate whether this was something that made sense to repurpose, like other hotels, or if we felt that the highest and best use of getting affordability was to demolish,” Reeves said. “When we got those initial applications back, about three of them, I believe, all of them, had speculated to demolish the building. We had no applicants who had or have any interest in repurposing.”
The CRA has not taken a formal vote on demolishing the building but Reeves said council members have voiced their concerns that the vacant building needs to come down if it’s not going to be repurposed.
As far as covering the cost of demolition, Reeves said that it is still being negotiated with Paces, but most likely the developer would handle the demolition with some type of contingency in place if there’s an unforeseen circumstance that arises during the teardown.
“I just know that that would probably happen cheaper and happen faster, for sure, if it was done that way, versus the city doing it,” Reeves said.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola applies for permit tear down the Pensacola Motor Lodge
Reporting by Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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