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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCRC-07-10-011 CARMEL REDEVELOPMENT COMMISSION Meeting, Tuesday, July 10, 2001 President Rick Roesch called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. Commission members present were Luci Snyder, Ron Carter, Edmund Burke. Also present were Mayor Brainard, Steve Engelking, George W. Somers (Wallack, Somers & Haas), Les Olds, Beth Young. Present along with Brian Shapiro were Chiray Patel, Chris McComas, Carla Day, Harold Sattison, Diane Soper, Gregory DeWitt, Rod McComas and Zeff Weiss. Phyllis Morrissey and Sherry Mielke present as support staff. Minutes Mr. Carter moved the minutes from the meetings of June 12, 2001, be approved as mailed. Following a second by Ms. Snyder, the motion was unanimously approved. New Business Zeff Weiss, attorney for Brian Shapiro, and Chris McComas, from McComas Engineering, made a presentation of a proposed building for the southernmost portion of Parcel #5 in City Center. The building, 35 feet tall and 8,000 square feet with three entrances, will be a Shapiro’s Delicatessen/Cafeteria. The design was compatible with the Georgian style of the City buildings. Signage options, sidewalk design, entrances and many other details were discussed. A second building for other tenants is proposed to eventually be built just north of this building. Shapiro’s would like to see the proposed road just north of these two buildings extended to Third Avenue. [Mr. Olds said this could be done but it would be expensive.] A third building might be built behind the second building, fronting on this proposed road. Mayor Brainard asked if the second building could be built prior to taking down the existing Kestner building. Mr. McComas: This could be done, but they would lose some frontage and parking. Mr. Carter: Kestner wants to be in his new building in January. Ms. Snyder: You’re not going to build Phase II before then. So at that time the south end [of the existing Kestner building] would be vacant. Mr. McComas: The front setbacks would have to be addressed. 2 Mr. Carter: Mr. Kestner has a concern about anyone building next door because he doesn’t have enough parking at this time. What might they do during construction? Perhaps make a cut into the Kroger lot? Mr. McComas: In order to develop this lot, we would need to get the other building down right away [the building with the cleaners]. Discussion continued. A restrictive covenant would be requested so no other delicatessens would be opened in the City Center. Discussion followed about the possibility of widening the road exiting the fire station onto Range Line Road. Mr. Roesch: This group is very interested in this project. In addressing some of these things, I’m not sure all of them can be done given the rigid time frame you’re on. Can you live with commitments on these things? Mr. Weiss: It depends on which ones we’re talking about. There’s a sequence of events that have to occur. For example, widening the road, the streetscape, bringing in the sewer. The reality is most of that doesn’t need to be done until we open for business which is probably six months out, but there still isn’t that much time. As long as we know they are going to occur. You want commitments from us as to what it will look like when it’s done. Likewise, we want commitments from you that what’s built next door is going to look the same [adhere to the designs]. There is some question whether an RFP has already been done for Parcel #5. Mr. Carter noted the tight time tables involved if one had yet to be done. Discussion followed. Mr. Somers pointed out that CRC had to own all properties in this parcel or else have intent to acquire it and make the RFP subject to the CRC’s acquisition. Once an RFP is done, and if no one bids on it, then the CRC can sell off any of the portions of the parcel after thirty days. Further discussion continued. Topography of the parcel was discussed. Ms. Snyder: How many acres for the site? Mr. McComas: It depends on where this northern edge actually gets defined. The site of the building is about .7 acres. The one site, the beginning of the parking, is about 1.1 acres. And the site for the third is about .6 acres. [Several discussions continued at once.] 3 Mr. Roesch: We did just have a legal opinion here. We have to put prices in the RFP. We haven’t talked about those. Mr. Roesch told the Shapiro representatives that the CRC would try to accommodate them after the executive session by calling extra meetings if needed. Mr. Somers recommended the RFP be written so any purchaser of the property has to begin development within ninety days. Mr. Roesch thanked the Shapiro representatives for the presentation. CRC members mentioned the excellent quality of the presentation and the project. Agenda Change Mr. Carter moved Old Business/Bose McKinney be placed next on the agenda. Following a second by Mr. Burke the motion was unanimously approved. Old Business Ms. Beth Young from Bose McKinney and Evans reported on the last closing in Merchants’ Square and some related problems. She distributed a memo detailing the situation. This closing is for the reconfiguration of an intersection and involves vacation of the old road and acquiring some new right-of-way. Legal descriptions had to be reviewed. $14,270 is the appraised value of the property being acquired. $21,000 was held out but some of that has been used for proper distribution of some money out of the account unbeknownst to Ms. Young, resulting in a shortfall. Discussion followed. Ms. Young suggested the CRC instruct the Trustee to transfer from the Bond Principal and Interest Account to the Capital Fund the amount of the Trustee’s fees that were paid out of the Capital Fund in the amount of $4,205.10. So moved by Ms. Snyder. Following a second by Mr. Carter, the motion was unanimously approved. Ms. Young said the next step is the Affidavit for Payment which is for the purchase price for Road Parcel 2 ($7,837.20) to Ben Mar, LLC; $995.00 to Chicago Title Insurance Company; $8,587.00 to Bose McKinney & Evans, LLP. Ms. Snyder moved the Affidavit for Payment in the amount of $17,419.20 be approved. Following a second by Mr. Burke, the motion was unanimously approved. Ms. Young will get the closing date scheduled and bring the documents to Mr. Roesch for signatures. 4 Report from Director Mr. Engelking reported he has been working on the demolition issue for the Kroger area and the Printsley buildings in Old Town. He has learned that CSO has separate specifications ready for the Kroger store and buildings attached to it. There is an 85% complete package that Cripe has produced for the Printsley buildings. Since it’s only 85% complete, they wanted to involve the purchaser, so Don Currise and Jim Thomas will be talking. Once he has both the packages, he will have the RFQ prepared and advertise the demolition package. Sherwin Williams does not anticipate moving out of their building until October. Mr. Engelking proposed the bids come in with a window of demolition beyond acceptance of their bid package, 90 to 120 days, in which they could complete the job. The Ryland ADLS for the townhomes on Parcel #6 goes before the Director of DOCS, (acting on behalf of the Plan Commission) in the Caucus Room at 9 a.m., Monday, July 16. Mr. Engelking asked that someone from the Commission be present since he cannot be here. Mr. Roesch said he had in the past come to the meeting and spoke in favor of the application being considered. Mr. Engelking noted this ADLS approval by the director is a digression from the norm where it goes through the whole Plan Commission. They’ve allowed the director to do that since this is a specifically redeveloped zoning area. There was an issue with the Kestner Parcel #3 resolved today, a consent to encroach into the Monon involving his patio. The BPW approved that this morning. Ms Snyder asked when AMLI was starting in Old Town. Mr. Engelking responded that he was not aware of any date at this time but he will find out. Mr. Roesch noted this is the last basic hurdle on Ryland. As soon as this approval is done, the money will be transferred to us. Mr. Carter said he thought Mr. Thomas [from AMLI] would be unable to give us a start date for their Old Town project until the CRC gives him some kind of answer on the parking deck. Discussion followed. Mr. Roesch said some of the other properties AMLI would like to acquire are not financially feasible if they have to do the parking deck. Ms. Snyder moved the CRC remove the parking deck restriction [in AMLI at Old Town] and let them build ground level parking. Mr. Carter seconded the motion and requested discussion on it. He said he had discussed this with Mr. Thomas recently to see why they were so far off on their cost estimates. Mr. Thomas said the smaller size plus construction costs in the north versus south had caused the discrepancies. Mr. Carter said he had come to the conclusion that he would like to have the parking deck but overall he’d rather have the project. 5 Changing the commitment requirements will enable AMLI to acquire other properties in the area. It is also beneficial to the CRC in the long term since we are partnering on this project. The vote on the motion was unanimous. Mr. Carter brought up a question on the Kestner project. Mr. Kestner spoke with him recently and was concerned because he is not having any success finding a tenant for the lower area of his building because of the inaccessibility from street level after regular business hours. This is because the stairway from the street was eliminated from the plaza plans. Mr. Carter suggested we explore the possibility of finding some way to access the lower level and what the cost estimate would be. Discussion followed. Mr. Olds expressed concern about the timing of the plaza construction if a change were made. He suggested an alternative location of stairs or a ramp along the north side of the Kestner building leading from the parking area down to the lower level and the plaza. Approximate cost would be $15,000 to $20,000. The need for lighting and security was noted. The possibility of stairs along the retaining wall from the street was discussed. Mr. Roesch asked what the cost would be to explore the question. Mr. Olds replied it would be $1,000. Mr. Carter moved the CRC authorize Mr. Olds to look into this for a cost of $1,000, by doing preliminary work to revamp the access to the Kestner property. Following a second by Ms. Snyder, the motion was unanimously approved. Mayor’s Report The City Center project was displayed at a show recently in Las Vegas. Five people have been recommended as potential developers. Two have scheduled times in late July/early August to come see the site and meet with the Mayor about the project. Mayor Brainard has had phone conversations about the underground utilities with PSI/Cinergy. The possibility was noted of including in our RFPs that the buyer agrees to use Cinergy for a term of years as part of the deal at Cinergy’s market rates. This would assure they recoup their costs for burial of the utility lines. Hopefully this would enable them to bury the lines at no cost to the City or at least substantially lower costs than originally estimated. General consensus of the Commission on this idea was positive. Financial Report The estimated July 1st balance was $2,181,381. Accurate interest figures are not yet available. 6 Ms. Snyder noted the projections are that there will be less than $1,000,000 at the end of the year. She asked how much the Shapiro project (if it’s approved) will cost the CRC. This will be discussed in Executive Session. Report from Attorney Mr. Somers was present for Mr. Haas. He reported the Ryland deal is set to go pending the needed approvals. An escrow agreement has been prepared. We will sign ahead of time all the documents we need to convey the land with all exhibits attached and deposit those with the title company. Various safeguards are built in. Once the approvals are obtained we both give notice and the closing can happen right away. We anticipate the closing happening this month. Ms. Snyder moved the CRC execute Resolution 9-2001, a formal escrow agreement, depositing the documents with the title company. Following a second by Mr. Burke, the motion was unanimously approved. Mr. Somers contacted Mr. Haas by phone and learned there has been no RFP offered on Parcel #5. The property must be offered via an RFP on terms and conditions compliant with Indiana Code and consistant with previous RFPs offered for City Center projects. A resolution will be needed for this. We also need to get two appraisals and the offering price must be no less than the average of the two. If no offer comes in which is acceptable, the Commission can offer the property for sale following thirty days. The offer should be for the northwest quadrant of the intersection of South Range Line Road and the fire station road. Ms. Snyder moved the CRC approve Resolution 10-2001 authorizing the issuance of an RFP for this property. Following a second by Mr. Carter, the motion was unanimously approved. Mr. Carter moved the CRC approve Resolution 11-2001 authorizing the expenditure of up to $5,000 each for two appraisals on the property. Following a second by Mr. Burke, the motion was unanimously approved. The type of appraisal required was discussed. Report from Architect Mr. Olds reported the site work for Parcel #2 is getting close to completion. When the contractor is done he is to notify us. Mr. Olds said we will have American Civil Engineers come out and re-survey it to make sure we are being charged by Poindexter for the right amount of fill dirt. Mr. Olds continued: On the City Center reflecting pond, we have started the basic work for that. However, I want to make sure I have the Commission’s approval to complete the work. AMLI is asking when it will be constructed. 7 Mr. Olds will ask AMLI when the large building will be completed because the pond protrudes up against the building and we don’t want to get in their way during their construction. We will discuss with them an anticipated schedule so we can work back from the completion dates to determine when we have to bid the pond and have it completed. Streetscape work will be included with that package that goes in front of the Ryland project as well as the streetscape work that only goes in front of AMLI’s project on City Center Drive. We are not going to do the streetscape work on the balance of Parcel #2 because it might be wrong and end up being torn up again by the purchaser. Mr. Olds said he wanted to make sure we were not violating any previous agreements with AMLI if the pond is not started until next spring. Mr. Roesch and Ms. Mielke confirmed estimates for the pond and streetscape work were in the financial projections. There was general acquiescence from the Commission to move forward on the pond work with AMLI. Discussion followed. Question was asked whether the pond would be big enough for ice skating. Affirmative. Mr. Carter noted there is a local radio controlled boat club looking for a home. The reflecting pond might be a possibility. Mr. Olds said the pond is two feet deep around the edge and gets eight or nine feet deep in the center. CRC Member Reports. None. Approval of Invoices Brief discussion. It was noted the Barnes and Thornburg invoice will be paid by Duke Weeks since it is work done for them with the City. The CRC reviews it before sending it on to Duke Weeks. Mr. Carter moved the CRC approve the invoices as submitted. Following a second by Mr. Burke, the motion was unanimously approved. Old Business None. Adjournment Ms. Snyder moved the meeting be adjourned. Following a second by Mr. Carter, the motion was unanimously approved. The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m.