Another messy triangle: Mayor-CBRE-CMPA

Who has the rights to market the parcels at the Vince Whibbs, Sr. Community Maritime Park? Hayward’s Chief Operations Officer Tamara Fountain has told the media that CBRE doesn’t have a contract for the park. The Community Maritime Park Associates Board of Trustees two months ago asked CBRE to stop marketing itself as the exclusive agent and to remove its signage at the park. CBRE has yet to comply.

Another messy triangle.

On May 20, Lisa Minshew, attorney for the CMPA Board of Trustees, sent a certified letter (2nd Ltr to CBRE re Expiration of Listing Agreement ) to the managing director of CBRE, Bill Moss. She notified Moss that the CMPA board had voted on May 12 to “request that CBRE stop marketing the CMPA Property in any manner that provides that CBRE is the exclusive broker for the park subleases.”

Minshew pointed that CMPA Listing Agreement had expired on Feb. 20, 2015, and the board had never voted to extend it. She wrote that CBRE had failed to “timely provide a list of persons or entities to the CMPA with whom CBRE has negotiated.”

Despite not having a listing agreement, CBRE continued to market the park parcel, saying that was the exclusive agent. The company continued to post its signage at the maritime park.

Minshew asked them to stop and remove the signage:

Yesterday, May 13, 2015 CBRE posted another marketing advertisement through email concerning the CMPA property. CBRE continues to maintain signage on the CMPA property offering the CMPA property for sublease as the exclusive broker. Please remove the CBRE signs from the CMPA property as the CMPA Listing Agreement has expired. Please also refrain from posting, delivering or advertising that CBRE is the exclusive listing broker for the CMPA properties.

The attorney also brought up the “success fee” agreement that CBRE had with Miami developer MCM-BAP for its proposed development. The arrangement had CBRE being paid over $2 million by the developer if a contract was signed.

“At the time that CMPA approved the MCM-BAP proposal in concept, CBRE was aware that City Council approval was required due to the term of the proposed agreement and the inclusion of a “success fee” to be paid by MCM-BAP to CBRE,” said Minshew. “A success fee commission was never a part of either the CMPA Listing Agreement with CBRE or to my knowledge in the City Listing Agreement with CBRE.”

Minshew said that the CMPA had been kept in the dark about the negotiations with MCM-BAP: “The City of Pensacola has not communicated with the CMPA to advise on the status of any negotiations with MCM-BAP. We also have not received any communications from CBRE concerning any negotiations between MCM-BAP and the City of Pensacola.”

(Minshew and the CMPA Board of Trustees were not aware that COO Fountain had been notified on May 1 by CBRE that the proposal had been cutback considerably.)

Minshew did give CBRE an opportunity to correct any misunderstandings. She wrote, “If you have any information to suggest that an agreement between the City and MCM-BAP to act as developer of the remaining parcels is proceeding, please provide that updated information to CMPA at your earliest convenience.”

The CMPA board has not heard back from CBRE. The real estate firm has not taken down its signage.

The mayor’s office has done nothing to clarify the situation.