Riverfront Update

Momentum on the project continues to pick up. While much of the management and planning happens behind the scenes over a long period of time (years), including all of the underground utilities, it is exciting to see physical progress on the street curbing and the City RiverWalk.

The concrete curbs for the main avenue (Nutt Street Extension) will begin this week. This will help define the site from a large field of sand to a defined boundary for the project.

The RiverWalk is without a doubt, far more impressive than I expected. The 14’ wide walk way and its location within the sawgrass and reeds provide a great balance to its predominately urban feel that exists at the RiverWalk to the South. The joists are being installed now with the actual boardwalk (decking) to begin in early July.

The structure of the marina has been in place for over a year but we are finally at a point where we can begin tying the Marina to the land through walkway, water and electrical connections. Now that the roads are ‘imminent’ we will shift our efforts toward the marketing of the marina slips for purchase to individuals for use. Boats should be able to utilize the marina by late August or early September.

Major bottlenecks primarily deal with financing and are still somewhat out of our control. At this point we should be preparing to begin the Marina House (the club house for the Marina along with 11 residential units along the RiverWalk). While we continue to receive purchase inquiries regularly about the building we are going to have to obtain financing before any major (vertical) construction efforts can begin. This unknown adds a bit of angst in that it is the next logical step in the Development process and helps to maintain both momentum and interest in the project. Fortunately we have seen recent interest from lenders who recognize that the better located, better quality projects will be the best risks as the real estate market begins to recover.