RM 12-03-76 - Laserfiche WebLink

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COMMISS: Page 7 Fridav, ONERS' REGULAR MEETING December 3, 1976 6.(c) 4ntinued- Mo ion was made by Mr. Wiggins, seconded by Mr. Cira and carried to approve the lease between the Department of Redevelopment and the South Bend Transportation Corporation for a period of six months beginning January 1, 1977 for a sum of $1.00. A iscussion followed in which Mr. Dan Caesar asked if we do have in uiries for that property. Mr. Nimtz replied in the affirmative an when Mr. Caesar asked what kind of inquiries, what kind of develop- er had made inquiry, Mr. Nimtz indicated that he could not divulge th t information. Mr Wiggins: I think that you need to be aware that the Committee of 20 (0 and George Wing of the Mayor's Committee has a program going called "City In a Box" - they have had various expressions of interest. At the moment this whole thing is rather fluid and we need to be in a po ition to respond should something concrete develop. The other thing th t I believe we are all aware of is that if we get too close to them we could scare the "birds" away...so we are trying to play it cool. Da Caesar: Are we talking about a local developer or an outside de eloper? Mr. Wiggins: Well, they have had some interest both ways and I think it would probably be a combination thing if anything really big came up - for example, in the superblock proposal we had local people in- volved in the development as far as building and financing goes but we were looking to outside firms to populate the project. Da Caesar: Could you reveal at this time whether this would be an office ty e structure or commercial retail space, or just what it might be? Mr. Wiggins: I believe they have had inquiries that cover the span of all of these but as we were talking last week, we are not going to gel: into the kind of large retail merchandising operation that we had hoped. I think that unquestionably there will be more retail merchandising involved in the downtown in the long term. Jez yoi in D. spc deN J. of nne Derbeck: When you say "inquiries" like from City in a Box, do mean just any downtown land or are they specifically interested a certain piece of land? Wiggins: I think you should also be aware that we have a se- nsibility and the city has a responsibility to promote orderly elopment of the area. Derbeck: But I mean have they inquired about that specific piece land or just any piece of land downtown?