Okaloosa County developer Jay Odom is in trouble again. It was his airplane hangar that Odom got buddies former House Speaker Ray Sanson and ex-college president Bob Richburg to build with state dollars that lead to Sansom and Richburg’s indictments.
Now Odom has been caught tricking Okaloosa County into leaving on his office buildings and renting another for three times the rent.
Here is what the Daily News reports:
Developer Jay Odom announced at a Jan. 22, 2008, County Commission meeting that the county’s lease for Odom’s Crystal Center building – located just north of his Uptown Station development – would expire on Dec. 31 of last year.
The Crystal Center has housed the office of the county tax collector and property appraiser since 1993.
Odom informed the commission that the lease would not be renewed because he planned to demolish the building. He offered the county a lease to rent space at his planned expansion to Uptown Station at an initial price of more than three times what the county presently pays.
After the county signed a five-year lease worth more than $1.9 million for about 25,000 square feet of office space, Odom offered to allow the tax collector and property appraiser to remain there until the ongoing Uptown Station expansion is completed.
Now Odom’s plan to demolish the Crystal Center building has changed.
“We’re in the process of finalizing a lease with a new tenant for that property,” said Martin Owen, spokesman for Odom’s Crystal Beach Development.
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