negotiation - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T17:38:33Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/negotiationBoca Raton: Virgin Trains offers to limit development to station, garagehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-virgin-trains-offers-to-limit-development-to-station-g2019-10-02T16:09:12.000Z2019-10-02T16:09:12.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960894054,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960894054,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960894054?profile=original" /></a><em>Although Virgin Trains officials have set aside for now their plans to develop land around their proposed Boca Raton station, this rendering shows what city-owned land they previously had wanted to lease for a station and parking garage or have the option to purchase for potential development. <b>Rendering provided</b></em></p>
<p class="p1"></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>By Mary Hladky</b></span></p>
<p class="p3">To speed up negotiations with the city, Virgin Trains officials have put aside — at least for now — their land development plans that have complicated efforts to reach an agreement to build a Boca Raton station.</p>
<p class="p3">Virgin Trains officials said they “significantly scaled back” their July 19 and revised Sept. 17 proposals that included allowing commercial and residential development along with a station and parking garage on city-owned land east and south of the Downtown Library.</p>
<p class="p3">Instead, company officials focused their requests solely on construction of a train station and parking garage when they appeared at the Sept. 24 City Council meeting.</p>
<p class="p3">Development “was distracting to the primary reason we are here,” said Brian Kronberg, Virgin Trains vice president of development.</p>
<p class="p3">The change “makes the process a lot easier,” said Mayor Scott Singer.</p>
<p class="p3">After hearing Virgin Trains’ new proposal, council members thanked its officials for outreach to residents and authorized city staff to continue negotiations.</p>
<p class="p3">Virgin Trains’ original proposal was “a big ask of the city,” Singer said. “Now we are seeing something that really feels much more like a partnership.”</p>
<p class="p3">Officials said they would return to the council in October with more detailed plans and project renderings.</p>
<p class="p3">In a schedule they concede is “aggressive,” Virgin Trains officials want to finalize a deal with the city by year’s end so that a station can be open by the end of 2020.</p>
<p class="p3">While development plans are tabled for now, Virgin Trains, formerly known as Brightline, could revive them later.</p>
<p class="p3">In the revised Sept. 17 proposal, Virgin Trains made significant concessions but also offered details on how it would develop at least half of the 4 city-owned acres it wants to acquire.</p>
<p class="p3">Rather than asking the city to donate the land as it did in July, the for-profit rail service wanted an option to buy a portion of the land at fair market value for a Transit Oriented Development.</p>
<p class="p3">Plans are not firm, but Jose Gonzalez, executive vice president of Florida East Coast Industries, a subsidiary of Brightline’s parent company, said at the Sept. 24 meeting that they could include office, commercial, retail, residential and a hotel.</p>
<p class="p3">“We will build based on what market needs are,” Gonzalez said.</p>
<p class="p3">Later in the meeting, though, he indicated willingness to cede the idea. “If the city doesn’t want to do it, it’s fine. Our feelings won’t be hurt,” he said.</p>
<p class="p3">The proposed development is in keeping with what Virgin Trains has done in Miami and West Palm Beach. The MiamiCentral project includes two office towers, two apartment towers, stores and restaurants, while West Palm Beach’s project has a 24-story, 290-unit apartment tower and retail space.</p>
<p class="p3">The company also has land in Fort Lauderdale that has not yet been developed.</p>
<p class="p3">Another change is that Virgin Trains is now willing to lease the train station and parking garage land from the city for a nominal amount.</p>
<p class="p3">That would allow the city to take back its land if Virgin Trains abandons rail service. “In the worst case, you take the land back and have 400 parking spaces,” Kronberg said.</p>
<p class="p3">The company still wants the city to build an elevated pedestrian walk-over across Dixie and Federal highways that would give Virgin Trains passengers easy access to the downtown. But it now says it will help the city obtain funding, possibly from the state, for the walk-over.</p>
<p class="p3">Virgin Trains also still wants the city to build a garage, which it now says will have 400 spaces. And it wants the city to provide temporary parking spaces for Downtown Library and train passengers if the garage is not finished when the train station opens.</p>
<p class="p3">But it will pay for the relocation of the Junior League of Boca Raton’s Community Garden, located along the Florida East Coast Railway tracks east of the library at 400 NW Second Ave.</p>
<p class="p3">As in the original proposal, Virgin Trains will build a $25 million, one-story train station.</p>
<p class="p3">Many Boca Raton residents are thrilled about the prospect of rail service, saying it will induce more corporations to establish headquarters in the city, increase property values, draw visitors and provide an alternative to clogged Interstate 95.</p>
<p class="p3">Singer said the response he has heard from most people has been “tremendous.”</p>
<p class="p3">Opposition comes primarily from residents of the Library Commons neighborhood immediately north of the train station site, supporters of the Downtown Library and the Community Gardens’ avid gardeners.</p>
<p class="p3">Since July, Virgin Trains officials have been working to win over hearts and minds by meeting with these groups and hearing their concerns. They also offered a train ride to members of the Boca Chamber, winning their enthusiastic support for a Boca Raton station.</p>
<p class="p3">The train station and parking garage would have cost the library most of its parking lot. Virgin Trains has said it would make spaces available on the first floor of the garage free to library users.</p>
<p class="p3">But that didn’t mollify patrons of the heavily used library, which offers more than 1,200 programs each year to children and adults.</p>
<p class="p3">So Virgin revamped its plans so that most of the 165 parking spaces would remain. It also will provide 58 dedicated spaces in the parking garage, so that 181 spaces in all will be available for free. The company also will provide 24/7 garage security.</p>
<p class="p3">Even so, library supporters worry that train passengers and employees will use the free library parking rather than park in the garage. They remain concerned about safety. And they say access to the library will be more difficult when the garage is built.</p>
<p class="p3">Friends of the Boca Raton Library board president Cyndi Bloom said the changes make her group feel “a little bit better.” Even so, the Friends don’t like possible development that will change the character of the area around the library.</p>
<p class="p3">Library Commons residents also remain unhappy about the prospect of looking out their windows to the view of a four-story garage. They want the garage moved elsewhere on the city-owned site and the return of an easement that will allow them to shield their neighborhood from both the garage and the station.</p>
<p class="p3">“I want to ride the train,” said one resident. “I don’t want to see the train.”</p>
<p class="p3">Gonzalez said he would consider if the garage can be located elsewhere but still near the station. <span class="s2">Ú</span></p></div>Boca Raton: Virgin Trains, Boca want to add stationhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-virgin-trains-boca-want-to-add-station2019-07-31T14:35:02.000Z2019-07-31T14:35:02.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>City Council agrees to explore idea for downtown stop</strong></span></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960881652,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960881652,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960881652?profile=original" /></a></strong></span></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>By Mary Hladky</b></span></p>
<p class="p3">Many South Florida cities want a Virgin Trains station, but now it looks like Boca Raton will walk away with the prize if an agreement can be reached between the city and the for-profit rail service.</p>
<p class="p3">Virgin Trains, formerly known as Brightline, notified the city in a July 19 letter that it wants to locate a station in the city — the first city stop to be added since it built the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach stations.</p>
<p class="p3">Three days later, a company official made a pitch to City Council members, who quickly agreed to explore the idea.</p>
<p class="p3">“It is an extremely exciting opportunity for us,” said council member Andy Thomson. “We have to make sure it is done correctly.”</p>
<p class="p3">Two of the city’s largest employers — Florida Atlantic University and the Boca Raton Resort & Club — leaped on board.</p>
<p class="p3">“It is just so exciting. I am sure you can hear it in my voice,” said former Deputy Mayor Constance Scott, who now serves as FAU’s director of local relations.</p>
<p class="p3">“This is the best thing that could happen to Boca Raton,” she said, noting that 10,000 students commute from Broward County to the Boca Raton-based university each day when classes are in full swing.</p>
<p class="p3">Many other speakers also extolled what they see as the positive impacts of a station — an inducement to lure more corporations to set up headquarters in the city, a rise in property values, an alternative to clogged Interstate 95 and a way to draw visitors to the city’s cultural venues.</p>
<p class="p3">The only significant opposition came mostly from residents of the Library Commons neighborhood immediately north of the proposed station next to the Downtown Library. They complained of train horns even though quiet zones have been established, the potential of falling property values if Virgin Trains abandons the station and questioned why the city would give away land to multimillionaires backing Virgin Trains.</p>
<p class="p3">“I caution you to please go slow,” said one Library Commons resident. “What we have here is a nice residential community … that needs to be protected.”</p>
<p class="p3">Virgin Trains wants to move quickly, with the station in operation by the end of 2020.</p>
<p class="p3">Mayor Scott Singer, who got the ball rolling by contacting Virgin Trains officials earlier this year, said the city would move quickly to make a decision. But he anticipated it would take at least four to six months to finalize a mutually acceptable agreement and for the City Council to vote on it.</p>
<p class="p3">Singer sees the station as a potentially huge opportunity for the city. “History is replete with cities that got left behind because they did not have transportation connectivity,” he said.</p>
<p class="p3">Deputy City Manager George Brown said the project would require amendments to the city’s comprehensive plan, creation of new zoning regulations and a development agreement.</p>
<p class="p3">With the City Council’s blessing, city staff and Virgin Trains now will begin negotiations.</p>
<p class="p3">Virgin Trains is proposing to build and pay for the station along the Florida East Coast Railway tracks on city-owned land where the Downtown Library, its parking lot and Community Garden now sit at 400 NW Second Ave., three blocks northeast of City Hall.</p>
<p class="p3">It pledged to help find a new home for the Community Garden, established by the Junior League of Boca Raton, and Singer suggested several city-owned locations.</p>
<p class="p3">Virgin Trains is asking the city to contribute that land and another vacant city-owned parcel directly south of the library, bringing the total amount of land it wants to about 8 acres.</p>
<p class="p3">The city would pay for and build a parking garage, and Virgin Trains would manage its construction.</p>
<p class="p3">The city would agree to fund and build an elevated pedestrian bridge over Dixie Highway so that people can walk from the station across the busy roadway and into the downtown.</p>
<p class="p3">Virgin Trains also wants the city to provide shuttle service from the station to various locations in the city.</p>
<p class="p2"></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s2"><b>Downtown parking</b></span></p>
<p class="p3">While the terms seem like a big request of the city, several dovetail with what council members have previously proposed.</p>
<p class="p3">They have long voiced the need for a downtown parking garage. With no downtown property owners willing to sell land to the city, council members are considering building one in the proposed downtown government campus.</p>
<p class="p3">They also want a trolley or electric car on-demand system to transport people around the downtown and have discussed a walkway across Dixie Highway as a convenience for people who would park in the garage.</p>
<p class="p3">The 6-year-old Downtown Library would remain at its current location but would lose most of its parking lot.</p>
<p class="p3">Virgin Trains would replace that parking with spaces on the ground floor of the garage that would be reserved free-of-charge for library patrons. Virgin Trains passengers would park on the upper floors.</p>
<p class="p3">The station and parking garage would be located on the library parking lot and Community Garden land.</p>
<p class="p3">But Virgin Trains also wants to develop portions of the city-owned land.</p>
<p class="p3">Brian Kronberg, Virgin Trains’ vice president of development, told the City Council that while plans aren’t finalized, he envisions ground-floor retail businesses with apartments above them, and co-working offices.</p>
<p class="p3">He did not offer more specifics or specify ticket prices and did not answer questions after his presentation.</p>
<p class="p5"></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s2"><b>Looking to buy land</b></span></p>
<p class="p3">But the company is eyeing privately owned land along Northwest Third and Fourth streets and Northwest First Avenue, located due east of the south portion of city-owned land Virgin Trains wants.</p>
<p class="p3">Mike Massarella, one of the owners of Boca Color Graphics on Third Street, said Virgin Trains offered to buy his property in July. Without divulging a price, he said it was a “fair and lucrative offer” but one he will not accept.</p>
<p class="p3">“We told them it wasn’t enough,” he said. “We can’t afford to move for what they are offering to pay us” because he cannot replace his building elsewhere in Boca for that amount.</p>
<p class="p3">Other business owners in the area also have been contacted, Massarella said, but he was not aware that any of them has agreed to sell as of late July.</p>
<p class="p3">He is awaiting a counteroffer. “I don’t expect I have heard the last of it,” he said.</p>
<p class="p3">Another nearby business owner, who asked that his name not be used, said he was contacted about one month ago. His lawyer is now reviewing a 40-page contract.</p>
<p class="p3">He said Virgin Trains is offering about 30 percent more than his property is worth. But he has not agreed to anything as he awaits word from his lawyer. He also wants to get a substantial down payment and a definite date on when the sale would take place.</p>
<p class="p3">While operating as Brightline, the company developed land near its stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach to increase revenue. It’s a real estate play similar to that made by rail magnate Henry Flagler, who built hotels such as The Breakers in Palm Beach near his FEC tracks.</p>
<p class="p3">The MiamiCentral 11-acre project encompasses 1.6 million square feet, including two office towers, two apartment towers and stores and restaurants.</p>
<p class="p3">The West Palm Beach project includes Park-Line Palm Beaches, a 24-story, 290-unit apartment tower and retail space.</p>
<p class="p3">In Fort Lauderdale, Brightline owns about 8 acres near the train station and proposed a 14-story office tower last year.</p>
<p class="p3">The Virgin Group, headed by British billionaire Richard Branson, announced in November a partnership with Brightline that included putting the Virgin name on the trains. Virgin Group owns less than 2 percent of the rail company, according to regulatory filings.</p>
<p class="p3">Brightline long rejected pleas from cities along its tracks to add stations, saying that would increase passengers’ travel time.</p>
<p class="p3">But that stance changed this year as Virgin Trains started scouting for new locations.</p>
<p class="p3">Hollywood officials met with Virgin Trains officials recently, and Palm Beach Gardens Mayor Mark Marciano asked for a station as well.</p>
<p class="p3">Earlier this year, Virgin Trains said it was looking at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and PortMiami.</p>
<p class="p3">In a recent monthly report to bondholders, Virgin Trains said it would add stops at PortMiami, Aventura and Boca Raton, The Palm Beach Post reported.</p>
<p class="p3">Whether that is the final word on station additions is unclear. In his meeting with Boca Raton council members, Kronberg only said that the company is committed to building an additional station on the Treasure Coast.</p>
<p class="p3">In its letter to the city, Virgin Trains said it is “evaluating other south Florida cities to expand our service.”</p>
<p class="p3">Michael Hicks, director of media relations, declined comment before the letter was sent, saying “we aren’t getting into details about additional locations at the moment.”</p>
<p class="p3">Also unclear is how viable the train service is. Through the first half of 2019, Virgin Trains reported ridership of 481,320 and revenue of $11 million. In a document issued to bond investors in late 2017, Virgin Trains predicted its 2019 ridership in South Florida would top 2.3 million, while revenue would exceed $112 million, the Post has reported.</p>
<p class="p3">But Virgin Trains continues to expand. It announced in May it has started construction of long-awaited tracks between West Palm Beach and Orlando International Airport. It expects to start service in 2022.</p>
<p class="p3">The company also has announced plans to develop service between Orlando’s airport and Tampa, with a station at Walt Disney World.</p>
<p class="p3">All Aboard Florida, which operates Brightline, is owned by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC, a global investment management firm.</p>
<p class="p3"></p></div>