Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves plans to move ahead with a now $10.3 million “Reimagine Palafox Street” project, if the City Council approves using additional funds.
The city had previously budgeted $9 million for the project, but the winning bid for the project came in over budget, and with additional “soft costs,” the total overage the city is facing is $1.3 million.
Additionally, as the project stands, there will now be a net loss of 10 parking spaces to the South Palafox area as the part of the design that would’ve pushed the project into a positive number for parking is on hold for now. That piece would have added pedestrian improvements and additional parking to Garden Street at a cost of $953,000.
Approximately $3 million of the project’s funds are coming from money that Florida Power and Light paid the city to repair downtown streets after it upgraded the underground power grid. The rest of the funds are coming from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, which must be spent inside the CRA.
