Greater Ridgecrest Area Update: The “P-Spot”
A letter from Habitat President & CEO, Mike Sutton on the current status of the Ridgecrest property.
Dear Community,
After a shooting that endangered the surrounding Ridgecrest neighborhood, the community felt it was time to gather and address the safety issue at 1310 Gooden Crossing, known in the area as the “P-Spot”.
Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas and West Pasco Counties assisted in organizing a community conversation alongside The Friends of Ridgecrest, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and other concerned community members. At this April 6th meeting, an open and honest conversation was had about the violence and the many grievances about activities occurring at the P-Spot.
We listened when the community told us that they wanted something to be done. We have had a long-standing relationship with the neighborhood, so we immediately started working with the owner to buy the property. We signed a purchase agreement on April 13th, less than a week after the community conversation.
At the same time, we worked with Pinellas County to secure financing for the purchase of the property, which required an environmental review to be completed before closing. We then extended the closing of the property to June 18th as we waited for the environmental review to take place.
Unfortunately, the property did not close on June 18th and eventually a lawsuit was filed by Habitat on July 11th, seeking to obtain the property per our sales agreement. Ultimately, a settlement was made with the seller for Habitat to finally close and obtain the property.
We are pleased to announce that as of July 20th, Habitat now owns what has been known as the P-Spot. So, what comes next?
Per Florida law, we have officially noticed the current tenant, who will have until September 1st (earliest possible date allowed by law) to vacate the property. Additionally, we are currently in the process of contracting with a demolition company to raze the building and installing fencing to better secure the site. Ultimately, we have plans to build a single-family home on the site, which will help to further our neighborhood revitalization efforts on Gooden Crossing.
While we had hoped to have resolved this matter by now and provide relief to the community, know that we have been diligently working behind the scenes to have a resolution to your concerns by September 1st.
Thank you for your ongoing support,
Mike Sutton
President & CEO
