Fort Pierce has given King's Landing a deadline. The developer will have six months to find the 15 million dollars needed for the hotel portion of the project.
Bill Ware, the manager of Live Oak Development, admitted to the commission that because of missed deadlines, they're in default with the city.
"We are now here today, having made clearly significant and prerequisite progress over the last 12 months, respectfully requesting your approval of a period of time deemed sufficient for Live Oak to continue our progress on the development plan. That now includes assistance with procuring an equity commitment necessary for the financing of the hotel," he said.
Joe Collier, the president of Mainsail Lodging, said they've been looking for funding partners. Live Oak previously asked the commission to consider a bond partnership with the city to cover the money. That idea was ultimately rejected.
"We weren't looking for the handout from the city. We're just looking for the city to be our partner," he said. "When we went to our normal group of investors that are investing in these types of projects, three things: One, construction costs have gone up, interest rates have moved the wrong direction, and the world has just changed a little bit over the course of the last few years."
Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky was in favor of stopping the project and reclaiming the land from Audubon Development.
"This is in material breach. And being in material breach, in order for the city to give back this property, my opinion, and based on the legal review of this, is that we need to stop now. Because if we do another amendment, it continues to weaken us," he said.
Commissioner Michael Broderick disagreed. He thinks trying to take back the land will end in a lengthy legal battle.
"It could be 10 to 12 years before this is resolved. The citizens of the city of Fort Pierce do not want to wait 10 to 12 years to have this property producing," he said. "I suggest that this commission grant the 180-day extension. Six months is not an extensive amount of time to land $15 million worth of financing."
He and the majority of the commission were on board with giving the six-month extension. However, they do want the defaults of the agreement to be addressed.
"Legal counsel has got to get this straightened out," he said. "In the final drafting of this fourth amendment, our concerns need to be addressed in that document."
The developer said they're confident in their ability to get the funding.