University Park Neighborhood Association

Online map of the neighborhood

2009-09-19T02:16:00.001-07:00

To all,

Check out our annotated online map of the neighborhood.

To edit it yourself, you need a gmail account. Please email me if you have questions on how to access the map to edit it yourself at upna@gru.net.

Jimmy Harnsberger

Home invasion on 8th Ave and 17th St

2009-08-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

To all,

You've read the Gainesville Sun article concerning a recent home invasion in our neighborhood (see at end).

I've asked GPD to keep us posted on the progress of this investigation. As I get any information, I'll be forwarding it on to the membership and posting it here. Officer Tirado is the first point of contact in our neighborhood, and he can be reached at:

tiradodj@cityofgainesville.org
(352) 334-2479 - office
(352) 538-6459 - cell

-Jimmy Harnsberger

Man bound, held at gunpoint in N.W. Gainesville home
The 71-year-old was attacked at dusk in the yard of his home off of Eighth Avenue.
By Lise Fisher
Published: Saturday, August 1, 2009 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, July 31, 2009 at 11:42 p.m.

Three robberies occurred overnight Thursday in Gainesville, including one in which a 71-year-old man was attacked and tied up with duct tape, police reported.

For the past several weeks, area law enforcement agencies have been dealing with a series of robberies, some involving home invasions, others at businesses and some as people have been walking through neighborhoods.

The first robbery Thursday night occurred in the 1700 block of Northwest Eighth Avenue, where a man was outside in the yard at about 8:30 p.m., said Sgt. Steve Baker. Two men, both wearing ski masks and armed with guns, wrestled with the older man, pulled him into the house and tied him up with duct tape.

The robbers stole cash from the resident.

Police said the two approached the home from Rattlesnake Creek, which runs through the area.
The man was able to free himself and get outside, where he flagged down help.

Comp plan meeting coming up Monday

2009-06-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

To all,

For the past two months, the City Commission has been holding meetings in individual districts to get citizen feedback on two critical issues that our community faces: the budget and the comprehensive plan. As I am sure we can also guess, the city government faces a tough budget year with difficult decisions to make.

The comprehensive plan refers to our long-term vision for our community in terms of development, transportation, and protecting the environment. Comprehensive plan rules have a tremendous impact on future development patterns which, in turn, can greatly strengthen or weaken city neighborhoods such as our own.

I strongly recommend that you attend this upcoming meeting with your Commissioners. It will be held this Monday, at 6pm, at the United Church of Gainesville (1624 NW 5th Avenue, Gainesville, FL) - where we have our annual meetings. This is your chance to speak to your Commissioners directly on these and other important issues to our neighborhood.

I've attached the agenda to give you some background. I look forward to seeing you there.

Jimmy Harnsberger

Stadium Club being foreclosed upon.

2009-06-03T11:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a Stadium Club update. I remember two years ago when the owners approached the city asked for tax increment money, the local developers who sat on the College Park University Heights Redevelopment Advisory Board predicted that the owners' business plan was not feasible and this project would bankrupt them. It was that obvious from the very beginning.

From June 3rd's Gainesville Sun.

Stadium Club hits another roadblock
The luxury condominium project is in the process of foreclosure over missed mortgage payments.
By Megan Rolland

Published: Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 9:24 p.m.

The half-constructed luxury condominium project on West University Avenue, where virtually no work has been done for 18 months, is in the process of foreclosure because the Stadium Club developers have missed payments on a $12.8 million mortgage.

Philip and Sharon Stock, the North Redington Beach-based developers, could not be reached for comment about the attempted foreclosure, which was filed in March with the Alachua County Circuit Court.

The mortgage was issued by First Priority Bank in February 2007 to Stock Development #38 for the purchase of the Papa John's Restaurant at 1802 W. University Ave.

The property was purchased for $2.1 million, according to Alachua County Property Appraiser records, and a demolition permit for the existing building on the quarter-acre lot was issued in May 2007.

Construction on the proposed 24 units in an eight-story building began shortly thereafter and the outer shell of four stories had been completed when construction came to a halt around Christmas 2007.

Since that time, no substantial work has been done on the structure.
The first signs that Philip and Sharon Stock might have hit financial trouble came a year ago when a number of subcontractors for the project filed liens against the developer and general contractor for bills they said were unpaid.

Some of those liens have evolved into court cases against Stock Development seeking payment.
Chris Doering, a former University of Florida wide receiver, had reserved one of the upscale condos in Stadium Club but said he didn't put a down payment on the unit. "I wish we could have gotten it done. It would have been a great project," said Doering, who said he has not been in contact with the developer for several months.
"I didn't lose any money, though."

The question lingering now is what will become of the high-profile development, whether it's foreclosed upon or not. The company now holding the $12.8 million mortgage - which includes the land and the half-built Stadium Club - is no longer First Priority Bank. Rather, it's Vesta Equity LLC out of Sarasota that is foreclosing on the project. Vesta declined to comment because of the ongoing civil court case against Philip and Sharon Stock.

Gainesville City Manager Russ Blackburn said that two weeks ago Stock Development requested an extension on building permits that were set to expire. "We have not acted upon that request," said Blackburn. "However, Senate Bill 360, which was signed into law late (Monday) night, provides for an automatic extension of two years for permits that were open dating back to October 2008." That bill likely will mean an automatic extension of the building permit for Stadium Club, but Blackburn said that, given information about the foreclosure proceedings, that may be a "moot point."

"I think from a community perspective our goal is to have a safe, sound and complete building," Blackburn said. "There are certain safety issues in the neighborhood because it is not complete. We're hopeful that an owner will come in with the financial capacity to complete the Stadium Club building."