OCALA, FL (352today.com) – A continuation of the Community Redevelopment Area agency board meeting from Nov. 4, 2025, regarding the redevelopment agreement between the City of Ocala and Marion Opportunity Zone Investment I, LLC, for the rehabilitation and redevelopment of the Historic Hotel Marion property, with total city incentives not to exceed $2,896,670, took place on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, prior to the Ocala City Council meeting.

The item passed unanimously at the CRA meeting, serving as a harbinger for the city council meeting later in the afternoon.

Taking another look 

Staff had presented the incentive agreement and there was support for the roughly $2.9 million incentive package, which equates to 10 percent of the developer’s cost for the project. However, the decision was made to table the agreement until December to address some additional concerns about the property donation as part of the incentive and because of that the item was also pulled from the Ocala City Council agenda, said Aubrey Hale, City of Ocala planning director.

Much of the conversation between the developer and staff pertained to the right of reverb clause in the developer’s agreement, said Hale. Originally, it had stated it would give a four-year time frame for the city to have the ability to ask for the right of reverb, tied to the specifics of building a parking garage.

“Since that time, we have removed much of the language pertaining to the construction requirements, so it’s just a clean right of reverb giving the city the ability to do that as well as extending the reverb period to a maximum of six years, but after the anniversary of the fourth year, if the city was to execute that right of reverb, there would be a new appraisal that would be required, and an adjustment to the purchase price,” said Hale.

The incentive agreement would not change, the $2,896,670 is still capped at the 10 percent, so it would come back either on tax increment financing [TIF] in the form of reduced payments or there would have to be some other type of reduction in order to keep everything within that $2.9 million area, said Hale.

“With regard to the TIF payments, those would go out, and the way that the TIF payments would have to operate, the developer is still required to make those payments, and it comes back as a reimbursement at a later date, on verification that the taxes have been paid,” said Hale. “

Staff also reviewed the initial purchase of Lot 6, and included the April 3, 2018, Ocala City Council report. The property had originally been acquired for $580,000 in 2018 and had a closing cost of $7,562 for a total of $587,562 for the purchase price. The Downtown CRA contributed $200,000 toward that. The remainder was made of an electric utility fund loan that was then paid back by the Downtown CRA. Those payments were concluded in fiscal year 2023-2024.

Doing their due diligence

City staff also did a preliminary analysis on the maintenance management of Parking Lot No. 6. The parking lot doesn’t generate any additional taxes as it is. It’s owned by the city, and there’s a similar parking lot, known as the Murphy Lot, that’s located at SR 40 and North Magnolia, which is a little larger than Lot 6 that yields a tax revenue of about $15,800 annually based on the size of Lot 6. The city manages that parking lot currently, but they don’t collect any revenue from it. There’s an annual cost associated with the lot, which has been estimated around $7,700 for mowing and landscaping, and for having to replace trees annually, that equate to $750-$1,000 depending on the trees that have to be replaced. Other maintenance includes sealing and restriping for every five to seven years, with that cost being estimated at about $30,000.

Most of the agreement has structurally stayed the same, said Hale. Many of the modifications were made to the right of reverb clause and the extension of that time frame to provide the city with greater flexibility to plan on the location of additional parking facilities or other redevelopment opportunities in the area.

The item came up on the city council’s agenda and there were a few items that required city council approval, including building permit fees, which total $79,640, as well as the conversion of some parallel parking spaces, to allow more valet parking along North Magnolia, said Hale. The preponderance of the incentives is tied to the CRA. Council approved the item unanimously with a 5-0 vote.

Leadership transition 

The Ocala City Council also elected new leadership at their Tuesday meeting. Ire Bethea Sr. and Jay Musleh assumed the responsibilities of Ocala City Council president and president pro-tem respectively, succeeding Kristin Dreyer and Bethea Sr.

City of Ocala Mayor Ben Marciano, City Councilmen James Hilty, Sr., Barry Mansfield and Jay Musleh, who were reelected on Sept. 16, were sworn it at the city council meeting as well.

Dreyer, who was the outgoing president, presented the President’s Award to the Ocala Fire and Rescue Mentorship Program Team.