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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-14-16 Community InvestmentCOMMUNITY INVESTMENT MARCH 14, 2016 3:15 P.M. Committee Members Present: Gavin Ferlic, Regina Williams- Preston, Randy Kelly Oliver Davis (Excused Late) Other Council Present: John Voorde, Karen White, Jo M. Broden, Tim Scott Others Present: Joseph Molnar, Alkeyna Aldridge, Kathleen Cekanski- Farrand, Adriana Rodriguez, Scott Ford Agenda: Bill No. 16 -18 Real Property Tax Abatement East Bank Development Bill No. 16 -19 Personal Property Tax Abatement, Spectron mrc, LLC Bill No. 16 -20 Real Property Tax Abatement, Cohn & Cohn, LLC Bill No. 16 -21 Real Property Tax Abatement, South Bend Tool Co., Inc. Bill No. 16 -22 Personal Property Tax Abatement, South Bend Tool Co. Bill No. 16 -13 Real Property Tax Abatement, The LaSalle Apts. LLC Bill Nos. 16 -14 to 16 -17 Four Confirming and Modifying Real Property Tax Abatement, 211 W. Washington (The Tower at Washington Square) Councilmember Gavin Ferlic, Chairperson of the Community Investment Committee, called the hearing to order with ten (10) bills scheduled for consideration. He explained there are two citizen members in attendance but they have not been sworn in yet and will participate as part of the public. Bill No. 16 -18 Real Property Tax Abatement East Bank Development Aaron Kobb, Community Investment with offices on the 14th Floor of the County City Building, served as the presenter for this bill. The project is a six story mixed use building. The total private investment is approximately $2.5 million. The ground floor will be used for commercial space with twelve (12) residential units on the floors above. The project will create two (2) new net jobs and retain fourteen (14) jobs. The estimated taxes abated will be just over $234,000 and the estimated taxes to be paid will be just over $346,000. Velvet Canada, 121 S Niles Ave, served as the presenter for this bill. She is the designer of the proposed building. The building site is between LaSalle and Colfax on Sycamore Rd. This is a five (5) story building with a rooftop terrace being the sixth (6) story. This is the first apartment building in downtown for Mathews LLC. Each floor has a one (1) bedroom, two (2) bedroom and three (3) bedroom floor plan. This will help the company discover exactly what the market wants in downtown before beginning the River Race Flats. The design is very close to completion and weather permitting construction will begin soon. Councilmember Randy Kelly asked how many apartments will the building have total. Velvet Canada responded there will be twelve (12) apartments total as it is a small test run. No one from the public spoke in favor or in opposition to the bill. Councilmember Randy Kelly made a motion to send Bill 16 -18 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Councilmember Regina Williams- Preston seconded the motion which carried by a vote of three (3) ayes. Bill No. 16 -19 Personal Property Tax Abatement, Spectron mrc, LLC Jacob Alexander, Community Investment with offices on the 14th Floor of the County City Building, served as the presenter for this bill. He explained Spectron is a locally owned business currently located at 17490 Dougdale Dr. and has operated in the area for twenty (20) years. Spectron is a radio - pharmacy and radio - pharmaceutical manufacturer. The company participates in manufacturing for nuclear medicine departments within hospitals and clinics. This abatement will allow them to purchase $2.7 million dollars in new equipment and expand their business and production opportunities which will create thirty -nine (39) permanent jobs. The estimated taxes to be abated are $109,315 and total taxes to be paid are $129,172. Gregory Hiatt, 17490 Dugdale Dr. South Bend, served as the petitioner for this bill. Mr. Hiatt explained the science behind what Spectron currently does and what this new equipment will enable them to do going forward. The company is licensed with the nuclear regulatory commission and licensed with the FDA. There has been a worldwide shortage on the products that these new machines will be able to produce. Councilmember Karen White asked what the average salary of the thirty -nine (39) new full time positions would be. Mr. Hiatt responded a few would be delivery positions between ten (10) and fourteen (14) dollars an hour. The majority being added will be pharmacists and technicians with average salary ranging from $60,000 a year to $150,000. Councilmember Karen White stated that is very exciting and thanked Mr. Hiatt for his investment in South Bend. No one from the public spoke in favor or in opposition of the bill. Councilmember Randy Kelly made a motion to send Bill 16 -18 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Councilmember Regina Williams- Preston seconded the motion which carried by a vote of three (3) ayes. Bill No.. 16 -20 Real Property Tax Abatement, Cohn & Cohn, LLC Sarah Heintzelman, Community Investment with offices on the 14th Floor of the County City Building, served as the presenter of this bill. Cohn & Cohn is looking to construct a facility for UniFirst. This is the first phase of the project. The total taxes abated will be approximately $103,000 and the total taxes to be paid are estimated at $128,000. This will help retain twenty - three (23) jobs in the area and create five (5) new jobs with an average wage of $19.50 an hour. Rich Deal, Barnes & Thornburg with offices at 100 N. Michigan St., served as the petitioner for this bill. This is the first project for Cohn & Cohn in South Bend. UniFirst is looking to build their own facility and were attracted to the Blackthorn area because of its ideal location and the investments made by the City. This project has a private investment of approximately $1.6 million dollars to construct a commercial distribution building in the Blackthorn Park. This building is designed to serve as the office headquarters and distribution needs of UniFirst. This will result in at least five (5) new jobs and retain twenty -three (23) jobs. No one from the public spoke in favor or in opposition to the bill. Councilmember Regina Williams- Preston made a motion to send Bill 16 -18 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Councilmember Randy Kelly seconded the motion which carried by a vote of three (3) ayes. Bill No. 16 -21 Real Property Tax Abatement, South Bend Tool Co., Inc. Bill No. 16 -22 Personal Property Tax Abatement, South Bend Tool Co. Councilmember Regina Williams- Preston made a motion to hear both Bill 16 -21 and 16 -22 together. Councilmember Randy Kelly seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of three (3) ayes. Sarah Heintzelman, Community Investment with offices on the 14th Floor of the County City Building, served as the presenter of both of these bills. South Bend Form is a local company that has been in South Bend since 1953. This abatement will allow them to make $220,000 worth of real estate improvements so they can increase their footprint as well as $623,000 in new equipment. Total taxes to be abated are going to be around $36,000 and total taxes to be abated a little over $54,000. This will retain seventeen (17) jobs as well as create eight (8) new full time jobs at twenty (20) dollars an hour. Kyle Harvison, 408 W Indiana Ave South Bend, served as the petitioner of the bill. This project is an expansion of South Bend Form's current building which will allow for the purchase of additional machine equipment. This also will allow the company to open up a second shift. Councilmember Regina Williams- Preston asked what kind of growth has the company seen over the past few years. Mr. Harvison responded the company has slowly grown but over the past five (5) years the company acquired some long term customers and because of that the company is experiencing growth at a much faster rate. The company actually is not able to keep up currently with all the orders which brought about this expansion and new jobs being created. Will Smith, 728 Whitehall Dr., expressed interest in knowing how the company is doing compared to the other tool companies in the area that are struggling. Mr. Harvison responded that they do very precision tooling for the aerospace industry and other industries that are precision heavy tooling and that part of their market is doing very well currently. Councilmember Randy Kelly made a motion to send both Bill 16 -21 and 16 -22 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Councilmember Regina Williams- Preston seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of three (3) ayes. Bill No. 16 -13 Real Property Tax Abatement, The LaSalle Apts. LLC Aaron Kobb, Community Investment with offices on the 14th Floor of the County City Building, served as the presenter for this bill. This is continuing a tax abatement that was originally authored for a different company. When Real America came into possession of the building they were given the last year of the original two (2) year tax abatement through a resolution passed by the Council. This bill simply extends that original abatement for an additional year to give Real America a full two (2) years for construction during the tax abatement which is standard. The construction is going well with a projected completion date in September 2016. Jeff Ryan, Real America Development with offices at 10711 America Way Fishers IN, served as the petitioner for this bill. Mr. Ryan explained how Real America came into this project and tax abatement after it had been granted to another company. Real America is moving forward as quickly as possible on this project. They will have completion of the project in two (2) years from when they came into possession of the building. The building will hold sixty -seven (67) market rate apartments and commercial space as well. The projected opening date is in the fall of this year. Councilmember Randy Kelly asked if the abatement is the same even though the companies are different. Aaron Kobb responded yes Real America took over the abatement as is and their budget is actually a little higher than what was called for so hitting those investment minimums is no issue. Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked why the project did not materialize with the first company. Scott Ford responded it was just an issue of timing and how many projects they had going around the state and which could provide a fastest return. Seperately, the City has had a great relationship with Real America and this is the type of rehab and project they specialize in. Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked if Great Lakes Capital gained any benefit under the initial abatement. Aaron Kobb responded no because they never even started. Jeff Ryan stated the building was never in the possession of Great Lakes. Ownership of LaSalle went straight from the City to Real America. No one from the public spoke in favor or in opposition to the bill. Councilmember Regina Williams- Preston made a motion to send Bill 16 -13 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Councilmember Randy Kelly seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of three (3) ayes. Councilmember Oliver Davis arrived at the meeting at 3:38 p.m. This brought the total committee members present to four (4). Bill Nos. 16 -14 to 16 -17 Four Confirming and Modifying Real Property Tax Abatement, 211 W. Washington (The Tower at Washington Square) Councilmember Randy Kelly made a motion to hear the substitute Bills 16 -14, 16 -15, 16 -16 , and 16 -17. Councilmember Regina Williams- Preston seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of four (4) ayes. Aaron Kobb, Community Investment with offices on the 14th Floor of the County City Building, served as the presenter for the four (4) bills. These confirming resolutions are the follow -up to the unanimous vote made on the declaratory resolutions last fall. The project will have an estimated private investment of $30 million dollars that will create a mixed use project consisting of a new hotel, residential units, retail space, and a refurbished parking garage that will be available for public use. This is scheduled to create at least eighty -three (83) new jobs over the next ten (10) years. The estimated taxes to be abated are just over $3.7 million. The estimated taxes to be paid are just over $2 million dollars. Mark Neal, Chief Operating Officer for Bradley Company LLC with offices 112 W Jefferson Blvd Suite 300, served as the petitioner for these bills. Currently there are plans for one hundred and eighty -three (183) hotel rooms, eighty -six (86) apartments, as well as over fifteen thousand (15,000) square feet of retail space on the ground floor. The work is continuing since the original declaratory resolutions passed in October and work on the parking garage should be completed next month. A complete demolition has occurred in the building removing everything except steel and concrete on the inside. Everything inside will be replaced. The target date for completion for the hotel is March 2017 with the apartments to follow in late 2017. This was set up as a three (3) year abatement due to the sheer size of work that needed to be done. It is taking a little longer than they initially thought because they are finding so many issues with the parking garage and infrastructure of the building but they are still scheduled to finish well within that three (3) year window. Mr. Neal thanked the Council for their past support and continued partnership going forward. A one page update and renderings of the building were provided to the Council and are on file in the City Clerk's Office. Will Smith, 728 Whitehall Dr., expressed his gratitude for the investment being put into downtown. Councilmember Randy Kelly made a motion to send the four substitute bills to the full Council favorably. Councilmember Regina Williams- Preston seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of four (4) ayes. With no further business before the Committee, Chairperson Gavin Ferlic adjourned the meeting at 3:43 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Gavin Ferlic, Chairperson