COMMENTARY | Downtown's gilded cocktail sippers never accepted Toney Sleiman as one of their own, but the buccaneer suburban shopping-center developer got one over on them in the end anyway.

City Hall is poised to pay Sleiman $15 million to walk away from his company's stewardship of The Jacksonville Landing, the copper-topped mediocrity that is simultaneously a city landmark and an embarrassment, ending a years-long tumultuous relationship between the pit bull developer and mayoral administrations that contributed to a total lack of progress redeveloping the property.

Sleiman is getting far more than the buildings are worth, and almost certainly more than he could have netted in any private-sector transaction. For context, the property underneath the decaying buildings — which the city owns — is valued at about $4.4 million, according to Duval County Property Appraiser figures. The buildings, which Sleiman's company owns, are only worth about $3.9 million.

Sleiman paid about $5 million for the buildings back in 2003.

The city is even doing Sleiman one better by contributing another $1.5 million to settle sub-lease terminations with tenants in the buildings.

So this colorful, brash developer who Mayor Lenny Curry had declared all but dead in this town commanded a king's ransom to walk away from the Landing. There must have been something, after all, to the exhaustive list of complaints against the city Sleiman would truck out from time to time to anyone who'd listen — and eventually to a judge. Strong mayor, indeed.

But this isn't necessarily a loss for Curry. He gets to be right. He decreed that he wanted Sleiman out of the picture, and he may just get it, assuming the compliant City Council is willing to accept the terms of the settlement package his administration negotiated with Sleiman.

It's not really necessary to get into the details of the various legal arguments at issue between Sleiman's company and City Hall. The bottom line always was that Curry and Sleiman didn't get along, a feud stemming in no small part by the fact that Sleiman was an active and vocal supporter of former Mayor Alvin Brown, whom Curry defeated in 2015.

A NEW START

In many ways, Sleiman was always a bit of an odd fit as the overseer of downtown Jacksonville's most recognizable development, and his exit does create the possibility for progress — not entirely for reasons that are Sleiman's fault.

He and his family business stepped into the fray in 2003 and bought the Landing from the original owner, the Rouse Co., which opened the waterfront mall in 1987 with more than 65 restaurants and retail shops, including Banana Republic and Sharper Image. Downtown simply didn't — and maybe still doesn't — have the juice to support a mixed-use development with so many high-end businesses. When Rouse gave up on the site and Sleiman stepped in, the Landing was in need of a refresh.

But Sleiman specializes in suburban-style commercial developments, and his ideas always had that texture to them: Put in a Cheesecake Factory and maybe some more parking, and customers will come. That never seemed quite right for a downtown hoping to attract a new generation of residents.

Adding to the problem, there's just something about Sleiman. He didn't get along well with the downtown crowd, the folks who think of themselves as business leaders and policy wonks. Former Mayor John Peyton was absolutely unable to work with Sleiman. It's true, Sleiman comes across a little rougher around the edges than your average blue blood. He's boisterous and very conservative in his political leanings. Stubborn. People know him to be a canny businessman, or maybe even a wily one.

But the animus was always mysterious to me.

Sleiman warmed to Brown, the former Democratic mayor, however, and I suspect part of the reason is because both were never really part of the city's in-crowd. Yes, there was of course another reason. Sleiman always expected taxpayers to be partners in any large-scale redevelopment of the Landing, which was an increasingly needed project. Having a friendly mayor around doesn't hurt.

Was Sleiman a cheapskate? Eh, maybe. That was always a knock on him. Sleiman and his company could probably point to a lot of investments made in the Landing — investments, they'd point out, that were made without the city fulfilling its own obligations to beautify the public areas around the mall. But there's no question he wasn't about to take a large step on his own without city financial commitments in hand.

Where I'd differ from the conventional wisdom, though, is in failing to see how that makes Sleiman any different from any other would-be downtown Jacksonville developer. They all want incentives, and often they get them. The Downtown Investment Authority actually views itself as responsible for helping developers achieve a certain level of profit — so why should Sleiman have expected any less?

Do you see any other developers breaking ground without a fat wad a taxpayer cash already in pocket on some large-scale downtown project?

That's the part that was never his fault. It was always different when Sleiman wanted city money for the Landing. That's strange because the city owns the land upon which the buildings sit, so everyone always knew it was going to take a public-private partnership to make anything happen there.

Brown actually struck a deal to redevelop the Landing with a city contribution of $11.8 million, with Sleiman paying the rest — including demolishing the current structure and building whatever came next (though he might have come back for more incentives down the road). Unsurprisingly, Sleiman's initial plans hit like a thud — uninspired apartments and retail buildings that architects panned. He worked with the DIA to come up with better plans that opened up a riverfront view from Laura Street. It got support from the JAX Chamber.

But the City Council killed it, in part because of the price tag. Sleiman has his warts, but in the realm of development — even if it's not the kind we all want in downtown — he has a better and more extensive track record than a good number of the business leaders who have a lot to say about development in the urban core.

He'll likely never get the chance to try it now, though, and maybe that's for the better — even if taxpayers will now pay millions and millions more to force him out.

WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF US?

The only other outstanding problem with the deal now on the table is simple. We know it's a win for Curry. It's definitely a win for Sleiman. We don't know, however, whether the rest of us will benefit from this — primarily because Curry's administration now won't say what it wants to do with the property once it's bought and paid for with borrowed money. The city will be all in $18 million in borrowed cash, including demolition costs.

Demolishing yet another downtown building without a plan in place for what comes next seems like a waste of money. "... the direct cost of demolition is the money spent to pay for it that could have been used to fund worthwhile projects like two-waying streets, assisting the renovation of historic structures, upgrading existing public spaces or simply better maintaining what we already have," Ennis Davis wrote in The Jaxon about the Landing. He's got a point.

Almost any option will cost taxpayers even more money, so it seems like a relevant question, even if it's one Curry would prefer not to answer right now. As Curry often says, he plans everything toward meeting whatever his end goal is, so spare me the unlikely possibility he and his staffers don't already have plans.

Does Curry want to turn the space into a park? Several months ago his administration released a rendering of that possibility, describing it as "a front lawn for the core of downtown and includes a beautiful public space to celebrate our riverfront." As ever, though, there's some kind of game at play. Now his administration is signaling that was simply an idea they looked at. Great. So we have no idea what the future holds.

It has seemed likely for some time that Curry wants to shift the focal point of downtown away from the Landing and closer to TIAA Bank Field, an area city boosters refer to as the "sports entertainment complex." This is where Jaguars owner Shad Khan wants to build an entertainment zone on an parking lot adjacent to the stadium. That development will also require significant taxpayer incentives to get off the ground.

I don't know if converting the Landing into a park is a good idea. Will it attract any more foot traffic or will it become a "creepy" nighttime spot, as one DIA board member said of the concept in 2015? Does shifting the focus of redevelopment to the stadium rob the central business district of needed infill? Will another developer get a shot at making the Landing work? Will it go to another local retread with political ties to the mayor, or to an outsider with fresh ideas?

These seem like questions everyone — not just a privileged few in Curry's inner circle — should have a voice on. They're not the only ones paying, after all.

Nate Monroe’s City column appears every Thursday and Sunday.



nmonroe@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4289