Just hours after resigning from the healthcare consulting firm he founded, Pensacola developer Quint Studer informed a group of realtors that his proposed $50 million mixed-use development in downtown Pensacola would not move forward.
Studer, 64, is well known not only as the founder of Studer Group, but also as the owner — along with his wife Rishy — of substantial downtown real estate and the Pensacola Blue Wahoos minor league baseball team.
At a meeting of the Pensacola Association of Realtors, multiple attendees confirmed Studer’s announcement. John Waas, the association’s president-elect, described Studer’s speech as motivational, urging attendees to “pay attention to what was going on around you in Pensacola.”
“It wasn’t expected,” Waas said. “He was running late because he had just announced his resignation from the Studer Group. He told us the apartments were dead and they’re not going to take place.”
Waas also noted that Studer expressed interest in investing more in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin, where his family resides.
The $50 million project was planned for the site of the former Pensacola News Journal building and was expected to bring over 250 residential units, retail space, offices, and a shared parking garage to the downtown area.
Andrew Rothfeder, a partner with Studer Community Development Group, clarified Thursday evening that public investment was crucial to making the project financially viable. “We’ve been very public that without some sort of assistance from city and county the project cannot work,” he said.
Studer himself denied declaring the project “dead” or “suspended,” stating that his comments were in response to a question about whether the project might not happen. He indicated that redirecting some property tax revenue toward a parking garage could keep the plan alive.
Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward, who met with Studer on January 11, remained optimistic: “The physical landscape as we know it is going to change immensely over the next three years,” he said, referencing other developments like One Palafox Place and the new Downtown YMCA.
“I have no reason to believe these apartments will not be built,” Hayward said. “I’m totally committed to finding a win-win and moving his project forward.”
The Pensacola City Council and Escambia County Commission had previously granted the project an EDATE (Economic Development Ad Valorem Tax Exemption) in December, which would waive much of the project’s property taxes through 2025. However, the state program that enabled the incentive expired at the end of the year, casting doubt on its future.
Studer expressed frustration about the lack of resolution: “There was no Plan B,” he said. “There was a good feeling that we’d get the deal done.”
Studer and his wife also own a 19-acre site that once housed the ECUA’s Main Street Wastewater Treatment Plant, as well as the Maritime Place Building, which serves as Studer Group’s headquarters at the Community Maritime Park.
In a statement, newly appointed Studer Group president Debbie Ritchie praised Studer’s legacy and leadership:
“Through careful development of the Studer Group team, creation of intellectual capital and processes, and through investment partnerships, Quint built a culture designed to last.”
Quint Studer moved to Pensacola in 1996 to serve as president of Baptist Hospital and later founded Studer Group in 2000. His influence continues to shape the business and civic life of the city.