While some Sanford City Commissioners have expressed frustration with how long a large-scale mixed-use project has taken to show signs of life downtown, the developers behind Heritage Park say plans that date back to 2017 are starting to come together.

Richard J. Heisenbottle, the executive manager of Sanford Waterfront Partners, told GrowthSpotter he expects to buy the 5.5 acres of city-owned land by early next year as they close in on securing the necessary financing to begin construction.

The project also now includes affordable housing.

Sanford Waterfront Partners submitted an application to Capital Trust Agency in January requesting $75 million in tax-exempt bonds. Application materials show that affordable housing will comprise 20 percent of the 235 housing units in a project that also calls for 35,750 square feet of shops and restaurants and about 8,500 square feet of offices.

“There’s no question the project has been significantly delayed and COVID was only one of those delays” Heisenbottle said. “But the good news is that we haven’t quit on the project. We believe in Sanford and in that project as much today as we ever have. We’ve got the kind of commitments now for the debt financing that we have never before been able to pull together.”

Heisenbottle expects the overall project cost to exceed $105 million.

Sanford Waterfront Partners is hoping to secure financing from Capital Trust Agency, which was formed in 1999 via a partnership with the city of Gulf Breeze. If approved, the small city near Pensacola of roughly 6,500 people, would serve as the government body helping Heritage Park qualify for tax-exempt bonds.

Denis McKinnon III, the agency’s executive director, stressed that the bond money would not come out of the coffers of the city of Gulf Breeze or Sanford.

“State law allows for every municipality in the state of Florida to issue bonds,” he explained. “Orlando can do it. Gulf Breeze can do it. We are proposing to enter into an interlocal agreement with the city of Sanford to allow us to issue bonds in their jurisdiction.”

The city of Sanford must agree to the financing deal for Heritage Park. The bond issuance is the subject of a public hearing scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 12 at City Hall.

The hearing comes as city officials have expressed agitation with Heritage Park’s lack of progress as deadlines loom. The city inked an agreement with Sanford Waterfront Partners in 2017 that requires the developer to close on the city-owned land by Jan. 1, 2025.

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As part of the deal, the city and Seminole County earmarked $5.2 million Community Redevelopment Agency funds to improve the streetscape around Heritage Park once it arrives.

That CRA money sunsets in 2025.

The city commission, on Sept. 25, voted to redirect this CRA money to other downtown streetscape improvement projects that will be determined at a later date.

In meetings leading up to that vote, some city commissioners expressed a loss of faith in the Heritage Park project.

“Heritage Park doesn’t seem to be happening,” commissioner Patty Mahany said in June. “This is ridiculous.”

Heisenbottle said there’s no reason to worry that Sanford Waterfront Partners won’t uphold its end of the agreement.

“We are trying to close on the land by the first quarter of 2024,” he said. “The deadline, in our view right now, is irrelevant. The entire team is going full-bore right now to complete the construction documents and get them in to permit.”

The original agreement inked between the city and the developer did not call for affordable housing. Today, Heritage Park includes 188 market-rate units and 47 affordable studio units, according to the application submitted to Capital Trust Agency.

Market-rate housing options would include five studio units, 79 one-bedroom units, 87 two-bedroom units, and 17 three-bedroom units, according to application materials.

Heisenbottle said the affordable studio units, available to residents earning 50 % of the Area Median Income, would look no different than its market-rate counterpart.

“We have a total of 22 buildings in the entire project and these units are mixed throughout the whole thing,” he said, adding that the affordable options will benefit many of the city’s residents.

“There are plenty of people—firefighters, teachers, police officers, bartenders, restaurant workers—that have incomes that are in that level. This gives them an opportunity to have something that is affordable and of high-quality.  This will be the highest quality product in the area when we are finished.”

Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at 407-800-1161 or dwyatt@GrowthSpotter.com. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.