No Imperial Landing, no new investors?

A pair of investors is trying to develop a mixed-use project on Old 41 in Bonita Springs but say the buildings may never rise from the ground if the City Council does not approve the Antaramian company’s controversial redevelopment proposal just down the road.

The investors — Rick Larson of Naples and John Bolan of Bonita Springs — are in the process of buying two pieces of property from Ingrid Hammerle of Jacobs Consulting Group. One of the tracts houses the headquarters of Jakob’s Paving, which is run by Hammerle’s husband, Jakob. The other is across the street near Felts Avenue and is mostly used as a storage area for the company’s trucks and bricks.

Larson said he and Bolan would like to see a two- or three-story development on the property, with retail and office condos on the first one or two floors and residential condos above.

That won’t happen, though, if plans to redevelop the former Bamboo Village mobile home park fail, Bolan said.

“We may just walk away from it, period. It’s worthless to develop it if Antaramian doesn’t go through,” Bolan said.

The city bought the land under the park in 2003 and forced the residents to move. Plans were to sell or lease the property to a company that would develop the land, hopefully sparking a revitalization of the Old 41 corridor. The Bonita Springs City Council solicited development proposals and in January selected Antaramian Development, Inc. to build Imperial Landing, a mix of condos and commercial space on the site.

April’s election brought in three new council members, though, and all have expressed doubts about the Antaramian proposal. The City Council is scheduled to discuss the company’s proposal on June 28.

Without the incentive of the Imperial Landing project and its expected impact on the downtown area, few developers would be interested in investing in the area, Bolan said. If the Antaramian proposal dies, he and Larson probably will just rent the existing buildings and land and recoup their investment in rent money, he said.

“How can you make it work? It would be the only nice place on Old 41,” Bolan said. “You don’t see anyone building anything on Old 41 and no one will unless they do Antaramian. If they do that, you will see the whole area from Dixie Moon (Cafe) to Terry Street boom.”

The whole idea behind the Bamboo Village redevelopment was for the project to be the spark plug that ignites development in the rest of downtown, said Mayor Jay Arend, a proponent of the Antaramian proposal.

“This will be the end of purchasing land as far as the city goes in that area, but the project itself will drive private enterprise,” Arend said. “We have paved the way for private development to take over.”

Councilman Pat McCourt’s district includes the Jakob’s Paving property. McCourt, one of the three new council members, said he said he likes the idea of people like Larson and Bolan bringing new investment to Old 41 but says he opposes using taxpayer money to subsidize development at the Bamboo Village site.

“The notion of a mixed-use development makes all kinds of sense if someone were to come in and put in something with their own money,” he said. “My major concern is I am opposed to the idea of a community redevelopment district because it is an unfair way for a few people to enhance their property values at the cost of the taxpayers.”

Complicating the situation are the permitting woes faced by the Hammerles as they try to move Jakob’s Paving from what has been its home since 1981 to nearby Smith’s Garage, another community landmark that recently closed its doors.

Jakob Hammerle rented the location with the option to buy it by the end of the year. He was hoping to move his business to its new site months ago but has been delayed repeatedly because of permitting issues. He wants to put up a chain-link fence, add a driveway off Felts Avenue and remodel the building.

“There’s always something missing. I don’t know why they didn’t tell us in the beginning we would need this and this and this,” Jakob Hammerle said.

The permitting problems led Larson and Bolan to file suit against Jacobs Consulting Group for not meeting the contract terms. Jakob’s Paving was supposed to vacate the property on Jan. 1, then a month later.

“We were supposed to close in December. We were at the closing table with the money,” Larson said. “It started out real nice, Ingrid’s a real nice lady.”

Ingrid Hammerle said all the problems have made her regret their decision to relocate the business.

“Jakob is 68 and I am 68 so what good is it to run around like this?” she said. “I honestly thought he would retire, but he decided to move to a different place and ended up with this.”