Revelations about downtown project builder leave Clearwater wondering
CLEARWATER — City officials were blindsided last week when they learned that Richard Zahn, until recently head of Prospect Real Estate Group, a firm picked to build a key project downtown, had pleaded guilty to corruption charges in South Carolina.
On Friday, as the Tampa Bay Times was preparing to report that Zahn’s wife, Michele, remained a trustee of the firm, she resigned.
She was concerned that her presence would damage the firm’s chance to build the high-end apartments and stores around downtown’s Prospect Lake, a nearly 6-acre, city-owned parcel fronting on Cleveland Street, said Mark Filburn, Prospect’s managing member.