CHARLOTTE COUNTY -- Be sure to create a sense of community.

Promise there will be shops close to neighborhoods.

And don't forget to include affordable housing.

Charlotte County representatives Thursday emphasized those themes during presentations by two of the four development companies under consideration to build Murdock Village, a new downtown center for north county.

The two builders -- Forest City Land Group and Falcon Land & Development -- spent the lengthy interview process trying to set their plans apart from the other firms competing to build the 870-acre project between U.S. 41 and State Road 776.

Both builders focused on how their community would be different than the typical Charlotte County neighborhood.

"We've all seen them where you go into a neighborhood and you're not sure which house is mine," said Ken Kupp of Falcon Land. "That's really not the intent here."

Charlotte County officials have been pushing the Murdock plan for three years as a way to replace a sea of vacant lots platted by defunct General Development Corp.

The county has gone $80 million in debt acquiring land for the project and has selected four developers -- Forest City and Falcon Land along with Kitson & Partners of West Palm Beach and Stock Development of Naples -- to interview.

Thursday's interviews focused on the details of Falcon's and Forest City's plans, and how the companies would pay the county for the Murdock land.

Falcon stresses experience

Representatives of Falcon Land, a collection of four Florida building companies, emphasized their experience building Baldwin Park, an Orlando community similar to Murdock Village.

The company has offered $82 million to build a downtown area along S.R. 776, surrounded by about 3,900 homes.

"We have a wonderful blank canvas on which to draw a plan," said Neil Frazee, vice president of MSCW, one firm working with the group.

The county's six-person selection committee questioned the location of the downtown on S.R. 776, one of the county's busiest roads.

They worried the center would be no different than another shopping center.

"From a retail standpoint, it is really no different," Frazee said.

The committee also pressed the builder about whether they would put shops on street corners near homes.

Falcon's representatives said those kinds of shops are not necessarily the best idea.

"We're not  wanting to force that to occur," Frazee said.

A focus on waterways

A slick video featuring the familiar tones of an instantly recognizable voice-over artist was the centerpiece of Forest City's Murdock Village presentation Thursday.

The company has offered $70 million for the land and plans to build 3,700 homes and apartments in a collection of separate neighborhoods.

The focus of Forest City's plan is a waterway it wants to create through Murdock Village that would allow residents to canoe through a downtown area along Toledo Blade Boulevard.

The builder has been involved in numerous redevelopment projects in cities across the country and is working on new headquarters for the New York Times Co., owner of the Herald-Tribune.

"We can't create another strip mall along a major roadway," said Len Jaffe, Forest City vice president. "We have to do something different.

The county's selection committee quizzed the builder on whether its Murdock plan, which calls for an island of homes in the center of the project, truly creates a sense of community.

"I see a lot of chance to create gated communities," said Debrah Forester, Charlotte's redevelopment manager.

Forest City's representatives argued the waterways would tie the community together.

After the day-long interviews, the county's committee members did not want to comment on the merits of the projects.

But County Commissioner Tom Moore, who sat in on the day's proceedings, said he was impressed with both projects.

"I think any of the one of them could do it and do it nicely," he said.

The committee will interview Stock Development and Kitson & Partners today. They will rank the presentations and send a recommendation to the County Commission on Monday.

The commission plans to hold a public hearing on all four plans at 2 p.m. April 25.
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