One Park investor demands apology from the city

Sarasota developer and One Park investor James Bridges wants an official apology from the city of Sarasota. 

The developer of multiple local projects said his reputation was unjustifiably harmed by the city’s decision to initiate a criminal inquiry into a contact his company made with Planning Board member Michael Halflants regarding an unrelated project while One Park, the embattled condominium project proposed in The Quay, was awaiting a hearing before the Planning Board.

Halflants is a principal in the architecture firm Halflants + Pichette with offices in Sarasota and Tampa. 

Bridges wants the apology to come from Deputy City Attorney Michael Connolly, who advises the Planning Board. During the board's April 12 meeting, Connolly told the Planning Board the scheduled legislative hearing on a request to amend the general development agreement between The Quay and the city to allow One Park to span over Quay Commons was canceled because of the contact between Bridges and Halflants. 

Connolly also said City Manager Marlon Brown asked the Sarasota Police Department to launch a criminal investigation into the matter, which shortly after was turned over by the SPD to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. 

Since then, Bridges' attorney has advised him that the FDLE has cleared him of any wrongdoing, although the inquiry remains ongoing. The FDLE has not disclosed the nature of its continuing investigation.

In his letter to the city, Bridges wrote:

“I am asking the City of Sarasota for an apology. The apology should come from Michael Connolly. … I seriously doubt he will apologize, although he disrupted my life by making false accusations about me and my company, Jebco Ventures Inc. Jebco has been in business successfully for nearly 50 years. The criminal investigation initiated by Mr. Connolly totally exonerated me and my company from any wrongdoing. … I will accept an apology from any city official who speaks on behalf of the city.”

City officials did not respond to requests for comment about Bridges’ letter.

A two-minute interview

Brown initiated the investigation days after Halflants disclosed his contact with Bridges, a minority investor in One Park. The state agency's initial inquiry was closed on May 9, then reopened the next day after new evidence was presented.

Residents of the Ritz-Carlton Residences have vigorously opposed One Park since it was introduced, primarily because of its design that adjoins Quay blocks 1 and 9 and spans over Quay Commons, the primary street into The Quay, above a breezeway. One Park is being developed by Miami-based Property Markets Group.

Collectively known as Block 6, some Ritz-Carlton residents have retained legal counsel to oppose the project before the city. Block 6 has also brought a case before the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, where it is challenging the planned transfer of air rights above Quay Commons by master developer Quay Venture to the One Park project.

Amid that activity, Jebco Ventures reached out to Halflants + Pichette and other architecture firms, according to Bridges, to conduct a massing study on a potential development project elsewhere in the city. 

"We had seen his work. It's all over the town,” Bridges said of Halflants. “I don’t know how long he's been here as an architect, but I've never had the pleasure of meeting him.”

Bridges said he was impressed with Halflants + Pichette’s work in designing the redevelopment of the Bath & Racquet Club off South Tamiami Trail into a mixed-use project designed around a renovated tennis and pickleball complex. He never considered any potential for the appearance of impropriety, he said, because no one in his company was aware Halflants was a Planning Board member.

“Nobody even knew he was on the planning board,” Bridges said. “I didn't know, didn't ask the question, didn't think anything about it. Nobody did.”

According to Bridges, FDLE investigators didn’t think anything about it, either. The entire interview with investigators lasted only minutes, he said.

“We introduced ourselves. I sat in my office, my attorney was there with me, and (an investigator) asked me one question, to which the answer was no,” Bridges said. ”He looked at his partner and turned off his recorder. It was absolutely ridiculous.”

The question? Bridges wouldn’t say, only that it was not about Halflants.

As for One Park, Bridges said Jebco is a silent investor, and his attorney has advised him he has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

“I don't get involved in any negotiations or any decision-making. I’m on the sidelines as an investor,” Bridges said. “It's been difficult for me for someone to insinuate that I'm trying to buy a vote. I mean, what are they talking about?”

Until the FDLE inquiry is closed for good, One Park will not be placed back on the Planning Board’s agenda. The legal challenge over the air rights is on the docket in August before Judge Hunter Carroll of the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, who told both parties in a preliminary hearing he plans to render his decision by the end of September. That could halt the process with the city, or not, depending on the verdict. If the air rights cannot be conveyed, One Park cannot be built as designed.

If One Park wins the case, the city’s legislative public hearing process before the Planning Board and then the City Commission would eventually continue. 

Regardless, Bridges said the image of Jebco, which develops projects across the country, has been tarnished by the city’s actions. Locally, Jebco has developed multiple projects ranging from the Embassy Suites hotel near the bay front to the new Wawa location on Fruitville Road.

“If the city made it easier to communicate, the public would be more inclined to express their concerns and opinions,” Bridges said. “We used to have an open-door policy with no problems. The city was our friend, but these recent actions lead me to believe they are adversarial. I do not experience these policies in other cities we are working in.”