Residents at Seminary Pointe were recently told their leases will end in July. During the public comment period at last week’s meeting of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, several people asked the county to preserve the low-rent apartments on Second Street by transferring them to a non-profit land trust.
County Commissioners say that is not possible.
The county bought the apartments and several other properties in 2010, using funds from an Innkeeper’s Tax specifically designated for convention center expansion.
Commissioner Jody Madeira said that puts a legal restriction on how the land can be used, and when the Capital Improvement Board managing the expansion asked for the land last month, the commissioners had to comply.
“We made a promise along with the city when the Capital Improvement Board was formed that we would pledge our properties and our collaboration,” Madeira said. “When the CIB calls for the property, we have to deliver that property.”
The CIB has not yet decided where to build the convention center’s new hotel but is looking at the block as one option. The board has also proposed swapping the property with the city to build the hotel on Third Street, but the Mayor’s Office has rejected that idea.
