The next hurdle for the St. Petersburg, FL-based developer is getting a green light from city council's zoning committee. At a three-hour public meeting, anti-development residents criticized Sembler's previous neighborhood commercial/retail project on Ponce de Leon Avenue as too traffic-intense. Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc. is the anchor on that project.
But pro-development forces convinced the Zoning Review Board Sembler's project would create needed jobs for the predominantly African-American neighborhood in Edgewood.
If its rezoning application is denied, Sembler representatives have told city officials they plan to build the retail center without the residential component. Sembler already has approved zoning for the retail segment.
The controversy and slow-moving city approval process is holding up the Florida developer's plans to buy the Moreland Avenue site from Atlanta Gas Light Co. for a price that Sembler will disclose after the deal is done, brokers following the project tell GlobeSt.com.
The controversy has also generated criticism from some anti-development groups that Sembler Co. is getting preferential city treatment because Mel Sembler, chairman of the 26-year-old company, is U.S. Ambassador to Italy and a former U.S. Ambassador to Australia.
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