NEW PORT RICHEY — The city has completed a rezoning package that it hopes will kick-start the long-stalled downtown Main Street Landing project while also protecting a slice of land to ensure expansion of the James E. Grey Preserve wilderness park.
During a meeting Tuesday night, the New Port Richey City Council rezoned a little more than 3 acres adjacent to Grey Preserve that will help Main Street Landing developer Ken McGurn restart work on his project, which has remained a shell since work stalled in 2007 amid the country’s economic collapse.
The city first approved Main Street Landing — just east of U.S. 19 on Main Street — in 2004 as a mixed-use residential and commercial development. It would be along the key downtown corridor on the city’s waterfront, and was considered, at the time, one of the cornerstones of the city’s fledgling redevelopment effort and a significant private-sector investment in downtown. Construction, however, ground to a halt amid the real estate bust, and the agreement with the city expired.