January 26, 2023
The PCC Building Oversight Committee voted to contract with an real estate agency to be the listing agent to sell the two parcels (5.77 acres) of land that will be central to the church’s renovation plans. The committee is in the process of notifying the applicants and finishing the contract with the prospective listing agent. (Watch for an update naming the listing agent once the notifications have been made and documents signed.)
The committee members, several of whom are developers and real estate agents themselves, were impressed by the quality of the applicants and the enthusiasm about the property’s potential. The selection came after the Sales subcommittee carefully reviewed 10 applications from realtors and brokers, three of whom were members of Pasadena Community Church.
The committee considered several criteria:
-How long would the contract be in force?
-What is the commission rate?
-What is the applicant’s history of selling commercial and residential property?
-What is the applicant’s experience in dealing with zoning issues?
-What is the marketing plan that each applicant offers?
-What visions did each applicant have for how the property might be developed?
There are many details to be worked out before the PCC Trustees sign a contract. The listing commission rate is being negotiated and the Building Oversight Committee is still working on a list of what stipulations the church would require for the use of the land. The committee is operating under the notion that the current soccer field will be developed into residential property and the preschool property could be used for residential, commercial or a mixed use.
The Building Oversight Committee did agree that there would be no “For Sale” signage on the property (partly to avoid sending a false signal that the church was for sale.) And the committee agreed that the property should be listed without an asking price, but instead state that we are accepting offers.
Under the committee’s Code of Ethics, one committee member, Robb Bauman, did not participate in the review of any of the applications, interviewing any of the applications or selecting the listing agent because he is related to one of the applicants. The committee will enlist Robb’s extensive real estate development and financial expertise as our renovation process unfolds.
Update on Churches by Daniels plans:
Rev. Gary Logan said Churches by Daniels plans to send engineers to PCC soon to look at the buildings and pay special attention to the ground under the property to look for any potential complications we might encounter in the Hamilton building.
January 12, 2023
(updated 1/17/23) the Sales Subcommittee began interviewing the top four applicants for listing agent today and recommended that three of them present to the full Building Oversight Committee.
Typically, the agents told the subcommittee PCC could expect the process from signing a listing contract to sale could take nearly a year. Generally, the best guess is no construction would begin for a year to 18 months. (That estimate is based on experience and market conditions but a motivated buyer could move faster.) The real estate applicants said any change in zoning density could take as much as two years to complete.
Currently, the two parcels (totaling 5.77acres) are zoned as “institutional and could be considered as NT-3 which is residential
The realtor applicants said the school property is platted for 13 total lots.
The soccer property is platted as 10 lots.
In total the properties “could” produce 23 home sites depending on whether Pinellas County government approved.
( See details of Single-family residential.)
(Learn more about Pinellas County and City of St. Petersburg zoning.)
The agents all pointed out that the land has potential use as both/either residential and commercial. For the school property, there was general consensus among the presenters that commercial use could only be on the ground floor of a structure and most likely commercial use could only face 1st Avenue. One presenter said that a developer who bought both parcels could likely more quickly than if the parcels sold separately. Most likely a developer would build on the soccer field land, that is already cleared and then move to the school property later.
If a developer wanted to try to get zoning changed for either property or if they tried to replat the property, the approval process to “replat” a parcel could take seven to nine months. Zoning changes could take even longer.
A developer might be willing to go through the expense and time if the developer wanted the school property to be used for as much as a four-story building that could house 53 units. (CCS-1 zoning commercial suburban district which could allow condos, mixed-use, up to a four-story building on the south side.) Once again, the caveat that any zoning changes create complications that take time, sometimes a lot of time, to resolve.
The church’s vision for the neighborhood and future use of the property will have a heavy influence on how much the property sells for and eventually becomes. The more restrictions the church places on the property use, the less attractive the property may be to a developer.
The presenters said within two miles of PCC, there are 40, 182 people with an average household income of more than $99k and an average age of 54.3 years old.
January 6th, 2023, the five-person Sales Subcommittee began considering the 10 applications that were submitted to be the listing agent for the two parcels that the PCC membership approved for sale.
The committee is operating under the Building Oversite Committee’s Code of Ethics to prevent any conflicts of interest.
The Sales Subcommittee considered a number of factors including the applicants’ history of completing major sales projects, their ability and history of dealing with local planning authorities, the agent/brokers’ vision of how to market the sales and the applicants’ listing agreement stating their proposed agent fees. The committee, which includes four highly experienced realtors and developers, are also interested in how long the applicants’ contract would apply.
The committee identified four applicants that will be invited to a January 12th meeting in which the subcommittee will listen to presentations from the four. The committee will listen for marketing plans, listing terms, zoning land use experience and the vision for the highest use of the property.
The subcommittee’s goal is to submit at least two recommendations to the full Building Oversight Committee before the end of January. The final selection will be made by the Building Oversight Committee and a contract would be signed by the Trustees.
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