NEW PORT RICHEY — As Main Street Landing developer Ken McGurn has acknowledged, “We’ve been beating our heads against the wall for a long time.”
The project moved forward recently when the Gainesville-based developer and New Port Richey city officials finalized a pact to resurrect the riverfront project, which has been stalled since 2004, when hurricanes began pushing up the cost of building materials, labor and property insurance.
The post-2008 recession doomed efforts to revive the original Main Street Landing concept: ground-level commercial-retail space with condominiums. The first building, at the southeast corner of Main Street and River Road, was erected, but not completed.