Switzer has vision for downtown block

Above the hustle and bustle of the first floor shops and restaurants, much of the space in the historic Brent Building in downtown Pensacola has sat empty for the better part of four decades.

The walls are peeling, the floors are sagging and rooms are filled with years worth of dust. In the Blount Building next door, the floor slab is sinking away from the walls and letting rain in under the doors. But the old buildings have potential, and it's potential Robert Switzer wants to harness.

Switzer is head of a group of investors called One Palafox Place, LLC who will close on the purchase of the entire city block enclosed by Garden, Palafox, Romana, and Baylen Streets later this month. It'll be no small job, but Switzer wants to reinvigorate the block, especially the Blount and Brent buildings, with dramatic overhauls both inside and out.

"My feeling is this will be the number one spot in town," Switzer said. "I hope to have the best residences, the best shops . . . We already have the best restaurants."

The pending acquisition carries special significance for Switzer, the great-grandson of F.C. Brent, for whom the Brent building is named. Selling price on the block hasn't been disclosed, but will become public record upon closing.

Whatever the cost, buying the building is only the beginning of the spending. The overhaul Switzer envisions will easily tally in the millions of dollars. The most dramatic change Switzer and company are proposing is to put a breezeway through the part of the building currently occupied by New York Nick's similar to the one across the street that houses The Wine Bar.

What will happen to the popular restaurant, Switzer said, is up to its owner Nick Zangari.

"We're going to come up with something that's good for him and good for us," Switzer said.

Switzer plans for high-end apartments on the upper floors of the Brent building, but the work to make the transformation will be tremendous. And if he wants to pull it off, Switzer will have to play by the National Park Service's rules, since that federal agency hold the purse strings of the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit that he'll need to afford the renovations.

Outsides of the two buildings will get a facelift as well. The wood siding on the first floor of the Blount building will be replaced with metal and glass, and both buildings will get a paint job.

Rent on the block will be going up under the new ownership, but Switzer said the rise in cost will be congruent with the improvements made to the building.