Laserfiche WebLink
REGULAR MEETING DECEMBER 13, 2010 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />converted into a senior citizen facility or student housing and in fact that Host Marriott <br />was selling the property quietly. Also, with all that going on they learned that Barnes & <br />Thornburg has signed a letter of intent to move out of the building and go elsewhere out <br />towards the Eddy Street Commons area. The did not want to be the only occupants of the <br />building and have to pay for the entire operation of that building so they started to look at <br />their other opportunities and contacted the city and said that they needed to know what <br />was going on here and that they would like to help sponsor bringing the hotel and the <br />City together to see if something could be done. Mr. Murphy stated that they certainly <br />would like to stay here because as it was mentioned before they have been here since <br />1863, this is home, but they are also a company that does business throughout the United <br />States, Canada, Latin America, South America and somewhat in Europe. They have <br />shareholders all over the country and have to answer to those shareholders as well as his <br />colleagues. They were getting to a point in time in the year that their lease was going to <br />be up and there wouldn’t be time to do anything else and it was clear that the landlord <br />would hold them to a very tight timeframe and so they worked with the city to find a <br />solution to retaining the Marriott or if not retaining them to make sure that what ever <br />would replace them would be a quality operation to downtown and the building that they <br />occupy that sits in the middle of the city. He thinks that they have been able to achieve <br />that result and will tell the Council that he is not happy with the result because there were <br />a number of times that he got frustrated and the Mayor was much more patient than he <br />was during the negotiations. He stated that the Mayor worked hard to make sure that this <br />stayed together because a number of time his board stated that it was time to move on and <br />make sure that they have a facility that there people could move into. He stated that in <br />that building they employ approximately 380 people and pay approximately 23 million <br />dollars in payroll to those employees. He stated that they employ approximately 600 <br />people in South Bend and pay approximately 35 million dollars to the people in South <br />Bend. He stated that they want to stay here and that they have 400 people that work <br />downtown, eat lunch at the Subway, Trios, Jimmy Johns, BW3’s and the Emporium, and <br />patronize Dainty Maid as you will notice by his size, patronize the shoe shops, Wygants, <br />the Mole Hole, energized by South Bend Chocolates and their coffee. They stay <br />downtown at night and attend plays at the South Bend Civic Theatre and symphony’s at <br />the Morris Performing Arts Center. He noted that the bank uses Century Center for all of <br />their officer’s meetings, sales meetings and just last week the employees Annual <br />Christmas Party. He stated that they have always believed in community leadership by <br />giving back to the community in both their human and financial resources. He stated that <br />they contribute over ¾ of a million dollars to programs in and around the South Bend <br />Area to make sure that they have a strong social safety net, health programs and <br />educational programs in the community. He stated that they would like to continue to do <br />that and to continue to call South Bend their headquarters. But there is a deadline on this, <br />they have to get moving on this to either find another place, build another place by <br />st <br />December 31 is what their owners and they have agreed to. Mr. Murphy asked the <br />Council’s favorable support so they can put this whole project together. He stated that is <br />was not an easy project because there were actually four different parties involved, the <br />st <br />owners of the building, 1 Source, Marriot and the City and also Barnes & Thornburg <br />stst <br />who was important t 1 Source as being a 1 class law firm in downtown South Bend that <br />they could work next to. He encouraged the Council for their favorable support of the <br />project. <br /> <br />Greg Downes, 101 N. Michigan Street (American Trust Place), South Bend, Indiana, <br />spoke in favor of this bill. <br /> <br />Mr. Downes advised that he is speaking tonight as a downtown resident who lives right <br />st <br />across the street from 1 Source and also is speaking tonight as the CEO of Gibson <br />Insurance Group with offices at 130 S. Main Street, South Bend, Indiana, stated that they <br />employ approximately 55 people in downtown South Bend. Mr. Downes also stated that <br />he is addressing the Council as a member of the Redevelopment Commission for the past <br />five years. He stated that this is an excellent project. It’s a great thing for downtown <br />South Bend, it’s the reason that he lives in downtown South Bend and one of the reasons <br />that he chose to move into downtown South Bend and make a significant personal <br />investment in downtown South Bend. It’s also the reason that he chose to move his <br />company across the river into downtown South Bend and earlier this year he decided to <br /> 14 <br /> <br />