Wildwood commissioners voted Monday to accept a $3 million offer from Citizens First Bank to buy an 18-acre triangular property along Powell Road that a few years ago was the site of an emergency services helipad.
They rejected a much lower offer by a Village of Collier resident to buy the property and preserve it.
“I think this is the best possible thing we can do with a commercial piece of property,” Mayor Ed Wolf said of the Citizens Bank deal. “It’s going to enhance the property values of the area.”
The bank apparently plans to build a 45,000-square-foot administrative and operations center on the site and bring 150 jobs to Wildwood.
City Manager Jason McHugh said the proposed sale was the result of negotiations involving bank officials and County Administrator Bradley Arnold.
“We’ve been taking our time with the project and making sure the purchaser was right for the city,” McHugh said.
Originally park land, the property has been a problem for the city since it was separated from Millennium Park by the reconfiguration of Powell Road more than a decade ago. Since then, The Villages built a neighborhood adjacent to the land.
Earlier this month, more than 100 Collier residents packed a meeting of the Planning and Zoning Committee to protest rezoning the site to commercial. Some of the those residents also attended Monday’s commission meeting.
Richard Michael Weese, who lives near the site, offered $173,280 for the property, which he said was twice the assessed value if the zoning isn’t changed from recreation.
“I would like to preserve the property for my neighbors,” he said. “I believe this gives the city a second option. I realize the (Citizens Bank) offer generates much more income.”
Weese also said he would like to make sure that large live oaks on the land are preserved.
Commissioners did not consider his offer before voting on the Citizen’s Bank proposal.
They also voted to send a proposed land use amendment to the state for approval that changes the property’s designation to general commercial. They heard the first reading of an ordinance to change the zoning to neighborhood commercial.
Under the agreement with the city, the bank project must begin within 270 days and be completed within 2.5 years. If the bank defaults on the agreement, it is required to pay the city $5,000 for each permanent job that has not been created.