A public-private partnership that would have extended Rice Road by a mile within three years has stalled.
In December, the Spring Hill Board of Mayor and Aldermen issued a letter of intent to sign a deal with private partners Crestwood Partners and Cornerstone Land Company within 30 days or the deal would void.
That period ended Thursday with the letter unsigned, leaving the project and partnership technically over, according to Vice-Mayor Bruce Hall, who spearheaded the deal.
“These deals are so tricky, there hasn’t been one of them that hasn’t been on death’s door before being brought back to life” he said. “There are so many entities involved, circumstances sometimes have to line up perfectly, and if one domino falls the whole thing can fall.”
Crestwood owns 133.82 acres east of Rice Road, while Cornerstone owns approximately 182.3 acres west of the road. A deal on an additional, key piece of land that the developers wanted could not be closed, Hull said. That land, owned by John Floyd of Ole South Properties, abuts Port Royal Road and the Meadowbrook subdivision. It would have provided the developers access to an existing road network, needed to build on their property along the proposed extended route of Rice Road.
Huntly Gordon, a lawyer who represents Cornerstone and Crestwood, had no comment. Presumably, they intend to build residential subdivisions on their land; it is zoned R-2 PUD, used for large planned residential projects.
“Technically the letter of intent is expired, but there is nothing preventing the project from being picked back up, if people come back together,” Hull said. “Or not.”
