The former Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA) Main Street sewage treatment plant site, commonly known as “Old Stinky,” has become the focus of substantial redevelopment on Government Street in downtown Pensacola.
The site is being transformed mainly into residential apartments:
- 282-unit luxury apartment complex (“The Romero” ): Construction has begun on the western portion of the site, led by Crest Residential. Pre-leasing is expected to start in spring 2026.
- Additional 320 residential units proposed: The eastern side of the property, near Main Street and South DeVilliers, is slated for another large apartment development. It’s still in earlier planning stages.
The tale of ECUA’s sale is a classic Pensacola tale. If you assumed the sale of 19 acres in downtown Pensacola was easy, you don’t know Pensacola.
- “Old Stinky” was originally designed and constructed in 1937. The site underwent numerous expansions in the 1970s and mid-1990s before ECUA officially took it offline in April 2011. The Central Water Reclamation Facility in Cantonment replaced it.
Demolition began later that year, and ECUA cleared the site for redevelopment by early 2013. The asking price was $8.9 million. Then the political games began.
Mayor Hayward Wanted It
In January 2013, Mayor Ashton Hayward asked ECUA for the Right of First Refusal on the site. Read Jan. 29 letter.
- In his 2012 State of the City address, he said, “Ownership of this key site will provide the city with the opportunity to incentivize high-quality future redevelopment.”
In late February 2013, the ECUA board approved the request:
• Giving the City a Right of First Refusal for seven months
• Setting a 72-hour response time to exercise that right
• Asking for $5,000 to bind the deal.
When other parties expressed interest in the property in June 2013, we heard the City had rescinded its offer. Sure enough, a public request revealed that Hayward had withdrawn it in a letter dated Feb. 22, 2013. Still, City Administrator Bill Reynolds had not transmitted it to ECUA Executive Director Steve Sorrell until a week after the ECUA board vote. Mayor Hayward would fire Reynolds in July 2013 for other reasons.
HT Land Shuffle…or Hustle
In June 2013, the ECUA board turned down, by a 3-2 vote, a $7.6 million offer for a 19-acre property from Texas-based HT Land Company, headed by brothers Aaron and Tony Weise.
A month later, HT Land came back with a second offer. The price tag remained the same, $7.6 million, but included the buyer covering associated taxes and brokerage fees, paying a $150,000 escrow fee, of which $50,000 was non-refundable.
- “What that means is the guy clearly has intentions of developing the property,” Sorrell said, adding that there is also a condition that will require HT to gain the approval of the ECUA board before reselling the property. “Essentially, what that means is he can’t flip it.”
Sorrell said he had seen the renderings, which contained a mix of retail and residential, a hotel and a decorative retention pond. “It’s actually a beautiful proposal.”
On July 25, 2013, the ECUA board voted 4-1 to accept the offer. Board member Lois Benson cast the lone vote against moving forward with the sale. She said risking selling the property to someone who could be a “squatter” or a “flipper” and not adhering to the community’s vision would be akin to “dropping the key to our city.”
Benson also expressed concern about not having met Wiese. In fact, no one had. Real estate agents presented to the ECUA, not the Weise Brothers. The board member said she had spoken to a real estate agent who said the developer’s absence was “nuts.”
“We’re at a little bit of a disadvantage,” Benson told her fellow board members. “We haven’t been able to look at him, talk to him, or kick the tires.”
Pensacola City Councilman Brian Spencer—speaking as a citizen—also raised that point. He asked the board to take some time and become “more familiar” with the buyer. He said, “I’m hoping that you all will press the pause button.”
- ECUA board member Dale Perkins didn’t appear bothered by the lack of face-to-face with the buyer. “Big developers hire people to do things for them. Really, really rich people don’t go to ECUA board meetings.”
Not long after the vote, the deal fell through amid media reports of the developer being arrested on a drunken driving charge.
In November 2014, Quint and Rishy Studer bought the site for $5.2 million.
