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Commission approves third amendment to King's Landing agreement, tightening closing and performance terms
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Summary
The commission approved a third amendment to the King's Landing development agreement that clarifies assignment and closing terms, tightens performance bond requirements and shortens cure periods for defaults; developers and partners reviewed a quarterly status update at the meeting.
The Fort Pierce City Commission on April 7 approved a third amendment to the King’s Landing amended and restated development agreement, a major milestone in the long-running downtown redevelopment effort.
The amendment, negotiated among the city, seller Audubon Development Inc. and buyer Live Oak Holdings Group LLC, sets clearer expectations for assignment procedures, strengthens performance-bond timing and valuation requirements, and removes an automatic cure period in certain failure-to-close scenarios. Under the amendment, if the purchasing transaction fails to close, the city may more directly exercise reversionary rights after limited review; Audubon agreed it would not contest an immediate exercise of reversion except where the city’s actions were unreasonable and caused the failure to close.
City attorney staff told the commission the amendment asks Live Oak to post performance bonds within 30 days of permit issuance, tied to an updated valuation. The amendment also requires the purchaser and project partners to provide closing and assignment documents to the city 60 days before closing to ensure necessary reversionary and other protective language is included.
Representatives of Live Oak and Audubon attended the meeting and provided the quarterly update required by the underlying agreement. Live Oak’s principal, Bill Ware, said the Marriott franchise application is in process, a refreshed term sheet between Mainsail (the operator) and Marriott is under review, and the development team submitted an updated site-plan rendition to city staff the morning of April 7.
“Every step that we’re taking on the creation of this site plan includes the collaboration and input from every department within the city,” Ware said, and said the project team has committed continuing predevelopment capital and coordination with county and college partners. Audubon’s counsel said the city and developers had worked through the amendment’s terms over recent weeks to reach language acceptable to all parties.
Commissioners debated the merits of approving an amendment that accelerates the city’s ability to exercise reversionary rights if the purchase fails to close. Supporters said the revised terms protect the city from lengthy litigation and allow the project to move forward; opponents questioned exposure to market and financing risk. Several commissioners said the city could face prolonged litigation and cost if it revoked the agreement, while noting the amendment seeks a faster remedy than previous versions.
After debate, the commission approved the third amendment by roll-call vote. Staff said the amendment does not itself authorize construction but aligns contractual responsibilities and timelines among the parties. The commission heard the quarterly project update as part of the agenda and directed staff and the development team to continue coordination on site plans, permitting and grant/incentive work.
