The Developer Trying To Kill Spanish Springs?
 

According to the "Other" news source, the Developer has submitted plans to reserve 14 parking spaces directly on the Square Area streets for the apartments to be built. Ten are across the front of the Patten Building, two across the street, directly on the square, and a couple along commercial areas. I think that is more than spaces reserved for handicapped.
What happened to "there is more than enough parking spaces behind the commercial buildings for apartment dwellers and daily users"? Who uses these reserved spaces when streets are closed for fairs, craft shows, and other events?
Looks like more than just the camel's nose is already inside the tent.

Hmmmm, you make a very good point. When the town square traffic is closed for events like the cruise in, holiday events and parades, market night, crafts fairs, farmers markets, etc….., the proposed parking spaces for the apartment dwellers would not be accessible. That certainly is reason to raise reasonable concerns about the future plans for the town square?

Go to meet the Developer venue tickets are FREE. The Mores Family owns the Squares The Villages does not

Should of built parking garage on top of KB. :icon_wink:I see more apartments throughout the empty commercial building north of 466.

I wouldn’t want park my vehicle around squares with privileged parking. Too great change get damaged unintentionally.

Only if VHA member way I read it?

Is the event open to questions that get honest answers, or is it simply a dog and pony show?

Good question.

Understand the need to make a profit but this does seem wrong.

Oh No, The Horror of it.

Yes, this is step #1 for ending Spanish Spring Town Square. It is just the tip of the iceberg.

From the February 17, 2021 online news site:
"The Lady Lake Commission on Wednesday night voted 3-2 to turn down a plan for apartments at Spanish Springs Town Square.

"The Villages put on a Power Point presentation, led by attorney Jo Thacker, Tallahassee consultant Darrin Taylor and Villages Vice President Marty Dzuro, that lacked numbers and specifics and were not detailed enough for some commissioners.

"The Villages team painted an idyllic picture of what life would be like in up to 45 apartments on the second floors of four commercial buildings at Spanish Springs. The plan would include seven apartments at the former home of Katie Belle’s, the storied Villagers-only club named after founder of The Villages Harold Schwartz’s mother."

Now we learn the details of step #1: 7 apartments that will require 14 prime-location street parking spots, not parking-lot parking spots.

Future steps seem to be that 38 more apartments are planned and they will require 76 more prime-location parking spots.

It isn't hard to imagine that most of the on-street parking in Spanish Springs Town Square will eventually become reserved for apartment dwellers.

I have been to many of these meetings. Although each has been very interesting, they are definitely a dog and pony show. None has ever included a Q&A session.

Not the right venue for Q & A……would turn into shouting pi$$ing contest.
Evidence as seen in the above posts……

i hear so many say they are afraid spainsh springs is being ignored to rot, or forgotten by the developers for greener pastures. what if this is the beginning of a new & more inclusive spanish springs? i'd be interested to see if there are any plans of future development in/or around the town square, ie: larger spaces for recreation, more restaurants, available parking, walking trails & things of that nature. orange blossom is such a beautiful area, the scenery is ideal to what comes to mind when a person thinks of resort-style florida. :popcorn:

Why don't you go to the presentation and give us a report?

Oh well lost interest than.

See post #10 from champion6, you got your report.

Actually, if you live in the area of SS and enjoy the various events at the square it is a very legitimate concern. Who in their right mind would rent an apartment with a parking spot where access to use your car would be periodically blocked for long periods of time? During the annual weekend crafts show in SS, the town square is closed for almost three full days.

The planned parking for the apartments and continuing business as usual in the town square seem to be at odds.

Not sure how "live in the area" is defined, but we go to SS for events and for dining......as we do all squares.

I don't feel the need to determine "who in their right mind"..........our free-market system will determine.

The landlord will have to determine how to communicate parking options to tenants.

:coolsmiley:

There are residents of the area who are already talking to attorneys.
The developer might lose another 44 million for screwing over the people who live in the north.

Will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

I went to the District Office in Lake Sumter Landing this morning. The Square was packed at 10 a.m. It was tough to find a parking space and there were people everywhere.

On my way home from running some off campus errands, I returned through Spanish Springs, about 11 a.m. It was a Ghost Town. It was like one of those old Western movies ... I expected to see some tumbleweed, blowing down the road.

I'm fairly new to TV, but it doesn't take a brain surgeon, to see that the Square is hurting and is due for an upgrade and change of "theme". Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the Developer is willing to invest sufficient capital to completely change the outdated theme and perhaps concerned another theme wouldn't blend with the "outskirts of town"?

Personally, think a San Francisco theme would be comparatively less capital intensive and would be reasonable consistent with the surrounding area.

:1rotfl::1rotfl:
Won't find many who would like a taste of California.

The tale of three Villages. The folks in the southern area are waiting for stuff to be built, the folks in the northern area are hoping the stuff that already has been built won’t continue to be torn down or repurposed, and the folks in the center area are currently as content as a clam during high tide.

Finally another thread about hating the developers. I was starting to feel something was wrong.

I see lots of mights and could be's. Some "sounds reasonable"s. And a suggestion of another $44M lawsuit. But, no actual facts. There was a town hula meeting that refuse permit to build some apartments. Okay, but if they can't build the apartments why would they want the parking places? And why would someone rent an apartment and not have a parking place that is acceptable?

So many complaints...

The "residents of the area" should put their money where their whiney mouths are and open their own unprofitable Katie Butts.

Poor Me.

Why would anyone expect the square to be crowded all day long?

Busy in the morning than lunchtime than early evening thru dinner time.

What is wrong with that.

The problem is that some of us who cannot walk very far will be faced with longer walks to venues and not sure that is fair.

Wait till the judge, in a lawsuit, asks them, “show me where you were promised………….
BTW, where did the sales center go, that was a well decorated place, I miss that. Can I join the lawsuit?:ohdear:

I don't know who's making the decisions on Spanish Springs environment but he/she/they are not considering the residents that frequent SS. They're only interested in their bonus' for making SS more profitable immediately. The reserved parking plan is definitely f....ed up. If you feel you're adversely impacted, show up at the Lady Lake Town Hall, Monday May 2th at 6pm with "Save Spanish Springs" signs.

It’s past it’s prime. Needs to be redeveloped. Beyond bowling nothing of interest there. At least you can shop and dine on 27/441

Yepper.

But there are a few Old Dogs that don't like new tricks.

:eclipsee_gold_cup:

I am “ok” with apartments. The buildings belong to the Developer and they can do what they want. If renters of the apartments don’t know there is entertainment every night on the square, shame on them. It is like the people who buy next to the turnpike and then complain about the traffic noise! But I digress… I seem to recall that when in Katie Belle’s you could not here the music from the outside. Somewhere along the road, the buildings were very well insulated for sound. Also, no one has considered that potential renters may do so to be close to the entertainment.

However! Taking parking spaces away from the square is totally unacceptable! The streets around the square are public streets. There are plenty of spaces behind the building. I am guessing the Developer want these spaces due to the main entrance and elevator is on the square side of the building. It will “save” them money.

It could also be a negotiation tactic. Give up the request for parking in return for approval of the overall project. If they really what to take these spaces on the square then that flips me to “nay” for the entire project. Let them go build apartments at Hacienda…

methinks there may be a little bit of making a banquet out of a ham sandwich!!

If the commercial property was profitable, nothing would happen to the space.

There doesn’t seem to be a huge demand from tenants. Likely because of all the development along 441 - so many options. Not really an issue along 466/466A/44.

Huh???

"The Developer Trying To Kill Spanish Springs"? Please explain how it will benefit the developer to kill Spanish Springs. Makes no sense to me but maybe someone can draw a color picture explanation. If anything it is the Villagers who are killing the town square by not patronizing the businesses that are there.

Research how cities are trying to revitalize downtown areas. These studies have shown that for the downtown area of a city to survive is that there need to be people living in the downtown to patronize the businesses. The downtown area of Nashville, Tennessee used to be a ghost town after 5:00PM when all the office workers quit for the day. A developer realized the opportunity and built a high rise apartment building right in the downtown and all of a sudden more stores opened in previously vacant buildings. Since then more condos and apartment buildings have been built and a whole lot of people are patronizing the downtown businesses and many new businesses have opened. Lots of people like to live where the "action" is and being right on the square appeals to them. Just because you wouldn't like it doesn't mean others feel that way.

As to the comment that after 11:00 PM Spanish Springs is totally empty, so are the other town squares. This is a community of old folks and most of us can't or don't want to party much after 10:00PM.

Had another thought. My understanding is the second floor of these building were originally set up for businesses but apparently there wasn't enough customer support by Villagers to patronize potential business people renting the space. So is the developer supposed to suck it up and eat the revenue loss? That sounds like great business advice.

So many wannabe financial and community development experts on this forum.

We go to Spanish Springs 1-3X a week. There is not any open space for new development.

Just reread that comment it was after 11 am not pm.

Well, I think there are a few old dogs that just hate the developers. And they seem to have moved here so they could constantly point out how the devs are a bunch of lying criminals. Why else would so many that hate this place so much stay?

It is almost fun to watch it go from, "Are they trying to close SS?" to suppositions that, They don't care about residents they just want to make their bonuses.

I don't think the developers are suffering by having to eat canned tuna and government cheese! They have plenty of $$$.

Yep, you got it, they have plenty of $$$. Doesn't mean you have any claim to it. There are people living in cardboard boxes under bridges. They look at you living in the villages and believe that you have plenty of $$$, why don't you share it with them?

Envy, one of the seven deadly sins.

I'm opposed to the apartments in the former Katie Bell's building. In an ACTUAL village, where there's an active police presence (usually on foot patrol) and the majority of the shops are for locals rather than tourists, including a small grocery shop or bodega, it'd make sense to have apartments over the shops. Not just one building's worth, but many or even most. I've lived in a village, I've visited friends who've lived in villages or village-like neighborhoods. None of them had just 7-10 apartments over a single building, with no police presence, no assigned off-street parking for residents, no children, no playgrounds, no schools in walking distance.

The Villages Town Square is a tourist area. It's a facade, where visitors can buy overpriced resort-wear at 50% off, making it only somewhat overpriced instead of ridiculously overpriced. And live music every night, weather permitting. With twice-monthly "events" that shut down street parking around the square for many hours each day of the event. It's not suited for residential units.

That's not hate for the developers. It's just pragmatism. Either it's going to be a poor business decision which will harm the facade and turn it into something completely different than what it was designed to be, thus alienating anyone who DOES live in the area and enjoys it...

or it's an intentional business decision to turn it into something completely different from what it was designed to be.

The building that currently houses the MVP fitness center was initially intended to be a small hotel. I think that actually would've been an awesome idea. If that had happened, then there would be more sense in building apartments on the upper floors of the shops. That'd be the anchor of "people sleeping at the square" to justify it. But that never happened. The hotel is down the block from the Square, next to the townhouses.

Now that the theatre is closed with not even a hint that they might even consider maybe re-opening some day in the next decade, and Gator's Dockside is closing early every night because they can't find anyone who wants to work for them at the closing shift, the Square has lost some revenue overall. Reserving parking spaces on the street in front of the Katie Belle building will just drive even more people away. 7-10 apartment's worth of residents won't change that.