City Councilors could not hide their joy Tuesday night after agreeing to approval the intial stages of a deal that would allow the proposed developer, a Mr. Yaakov Rosner and Mr. “Avi” Rosner, to lease the Hacienda property from the city in order to run a 30-room boutique hotel.

The project is estimated to involve a total $5.6 million investment from multiple sources. $2 million is to come from the Rosners, $1 million from a grant provided by the State for the restoration of the historic building, and the rest from tax incentives from the City.

City Manager Debbie Manns made a point of the fact that the City’s agreement does include a performance bond, which would guarantee satisfactory completion of a project by the developer. This would most likely protect the City’s interest in the property, although not without risks.

The agreement must be proposed via city ordinance because it involves the lease of a city owned property, and Tuesday’s meeting was the “first reading” of said ordinance. It will come before Council again for a second reading on February 17 at which point the agreement will be final. City staffers have penciled a date for February 10th at 3:00 pm at the Hacienda for a ceremonial signing of the agreement. *UPDATE* The time has been moved from 4:00 pm on February 10th to 3:00 pm.

The council approved the initial agreement with a unanimous vote, and all of the council members heaped praise upon the developer and hope for a productive relationship. Councilman Bill Phillips, especially, spoke at length about the benefits of the project to the city. He called for staff to include the 400 or more volunteers that helped the City to bring the Hacienda into respectable shape in the celebrations.

NewsPortRichey Editor Jon Tietz presented documents to the council outlining issues with the Rosners’ previous hotel venture in Yulee, Florida as well as with the city’s financial projections for the project, which he claimed were incorrect. You can read NewsPortRichey’s other articles on the subject here.