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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2012
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<br />Section IV. The Council recommends that Downtown South Bend, Inc. (DTSB)
<br />share information on a timely basis with the Council’s Community and Economic
<br />Development Committee.
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<br /> Section V. This Resolution shall be in full force and effect from and after its
<br />adoption by the Council and approval by the Mayor.
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<br /> s/Henry Davis, Jr., 2 District Council Member
<br /> s/Karen L. White, Council Member at Large
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<br /> s/Oliver Davis, 6 District Council Member
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<br />Councilmember Henry Davis, Jr., Chairperson, Economic Development Committee,
<br />reported that this committee held a Public Hearing on this bill this afternoon and voted to
<br />send it to the full Council with a favorable recommendation.
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<br />Councilmember Henry Davis, Jr., 5117 Idlewood Dr., South Bend, Indiana, made the
<br />presentation for this bill.
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<br />Councilmember Davis advised that this bill is to promote Downtown South Bend. He
<br />stated that many of them have been asking for a plan for the downtown area and the
<br />Riverfront Development was passed through and this is an addition to the Riverfront
<br />Development, so what you are looking at now is the Indiana Main Street Program that
<br />was designated back in 2010. It is not merely a Main Street Initiative Plan, but it is a
<br />plan to help us encourage business revitalization, restoration of the downtown area for
<br />cities and towns, talking about designs, talking about organization, talking promotion,
<br />talking about economic restructuring through this grant. So within this Resolution they
<br />are asking that the Downtown South Bend crew, Mr. Aaron Perri and company will go
<br />ahead and fill out an application to help promote downtown by helping out with this
<br />façade grant and the different things that are available to us per the State of Indiana. He
<br />stated that he thinks it will be a good fit, he thinks that it will help improve downtown, he
<br />thinks that it will enhance the viability of downtown along with the Riverfront as well.
<br />The second part of this resolution has everything to do with the Chase Tower, as this has
<br />been a story since last September, and has they have not heard a lot from the
<br />Administration concerning this matter, he stands to believe and think that they have a lot
<br />gain and also to lose in this situation. So, in talking with a couple guys who thought that
<br />they wanted to buy the building, and have come to understand today, that there has been a
<br />bid accepted, which doesn’t mean that the building has been sold, but that a bid has been
<br />accepted in such a way that they can follow along down the path of hopefully acquiring
<br />the building, Ss nothing is set, but the bid has been accepted. He stated that the other part
<br />of this is that if the bid doesn’t stay the course and obviously gets accepted in such a way
<br />that the building doesn’t get sold he thinks that we have a couple of stakes in this that we
<br />can move forward. He stated that he has a couple of solutions; it may not be to the
<br />administrations likening. However, they are solutions, the interesting part is not having
<br />the incentive to obviously lower the price for someone to purchase the property, the
<br />receiver is not making money, managing this thing for a long time and the bank has
<br />already classified this loan and taken all of the lease money to reduce the bank book
<br />balance in order to lessen the ultimate charge off or create a bigger recovery. They also
<br />know that if we continue down this path and hold off longer, we will probably end out
<br />bailing them out. He stated that is how the conversation has been in the past; however,
<br />the building exists and continues to exist in a poor fashion. The City could take two legal
<br />paths, the price could certainly be reduced by repair cost, you can do this in the
<br />negotiation in two ways, the property taxes, the last time we looked at property taxes they
<br />were way behind. He stated that if they do not pay it, it could go to tax sale. He stated
<br />that this should be no different, the city could pay the taxes and bring it to current and at
<br />best buy the property. These are all good outcomes. He stated that if the city ends up
<br />with the property then the city could be the final one who says to the prospective buyer
<br />that we won’t fine them for the repair costs, but we would do that much in as far as
<br />dropping some of the cost of the taxes. He stated that is part of the conversation that they
<br />have with the County Assessor. He stated that we could also go the condemnation route,
<br />that is heavy handed, kind of rash, however, we have pieces of concrete falling off the
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