NEW PORT RICHEY - The idea that "If you build it, they will come" may have worked for Kevin Costner, in the '80s, in a movie, but in the harsh reality of today's economy, that philosophy needs to be amended to something like, "If you build some of it, maybe they will start thinking about coming."

That was part of the thinking on a tentative plan commercial real estate developer Ken McGurn offered when he recently came before New Port Richey City Council - acting in its capacity as Community Redevelopment Agency - to discuss the status of his Main Street Landing project.

Once the centerpiece of downtown redevelopment dreams, Main Street Landing has stagnated along the Pithlachascotee River for more than two years, a white elephant made of gray concrete blocks whose only growth has been in its status as an irritant to residents and city officials.

Acknowledging this, McGurn presented an idea that could improve the situation.

"We're trying to get creative," McGurn said. "We know it's a tough market, and it doesn't look like it's going to get any better in the next few months."

The city entered into a five-year development agreement with McGurn in 2004 to build Main Street Landing. The Tuscan-themed multistory design calls for retail spaces and town houses facing Main Street, and 45 luxury condominiums overlooking the river. The plan includes a 6,000-square-foot restaurant and boat docks for residents. Its original estimated price tag was $30 million.

Construction began on the project, but stopped abruptly in July 2006. Resuming construction on the full project might not be feasible for now, McGurn told the council, but this might be a good time to look into a partial construction.

"Because the economy is so bad, the prices of stuff are down, including the architect," he said. "The costs of building materials are going down.

"If we can get that first building along Main Street done, that would do wonders for the downtown, just to have that looking better than it has." McGurn estimated it would cost between $1.8 million and $2 million to complete the exterior. The building would essentially be an empty shell, but there would be multiple benefits, he said. Residents would see progress. Once the work was done, the building would provide a bit of the presence the project had always promised.

Once the exterior is done, it will be easier to attract commercial tenants to sign leases that would generate some of the $5 million it will take to finish the building, instead of trying to get a bank loan in today's environment.

It all sounded good to the council, though their enthusiasm was guarded.

"I understand it's not complete, but it's some progress, as opposed to none," City Manager Tom O'Neill said a few days after the meeting.

What McGurn is proposing is not uncommon, to wait to complete the interior of a building and 'build to suit' for new tenants, O'Neill said. In the long run, it can save money and make it easier to sign tenants with the offer of tailoring a space to their needs.

The million-dollar question - possibly multimillion-dollar question - is what will it take for this idea to build the outer shell of the building to be more than an empty proposal?

"We know he'll want an amended agreement," O'Neill said, "We've encouraged Mr. McGurn to come forward with any proposals that would make it agreeable to him. That hasn't happened."

When Mayor Scott McPherson and members of the council pressed McGurn at the meeting for a timetable or brought up the issue of a new or renegotiated agreement, he declined to state any specific parameters.

The development agreement between the city and McGurn Management Inc. included a $1.25 million payment from the Community Redevelopment Agency if the city receives certificates of occupancy for 50 percent of the buildings by the time the agreement expires. With that expiration coming in March, that isn't going to happen.

In May 2006, McGurn and his Main Street Landing partner, former New Port Richey Mayor Peter Altman, proposed to forgo the $1.25 million incentive if city council would approve creating a special taxing district that would have turned over $6.7 million in property tax proceeds during the subsequent 23 years to the developers.

The proposal was rejected, and construction came to a halt shortly after. In June 2007, another attempt at a redevelopment plan also fell through. Whatever the negotiating points are this time around, both sides of the deal state they are committed to getting something done.

It may not look it, McGurn said, but he has $7 million sunk into the project and has no intentions of walking away.

O'Neill described Main Street Landing as "one of the highest priorities we have." As is, it's an eyesore that is having a negative economic effect on the entire downtown area.

That said, he added that the city has had an agreement in place for nearly five years, and has lived up to its end of the bargain. Any future agreement will have to be something both sides can live with comfortably.

"Our emphasis at this point is still trying to work with him and maintain a dialog to at least get what we see out there finished," O'Neill said.

"It's right at my top burner and I'm not going to let him take it off of his stove, either."