10-25-12 Redevelopment Commission Minutes.docx

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South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting—October 25, 2012 6. NEW BUSINESS (CONT.) B. South Bend Central Development Area (1) Professional services agreement addendum with The Troyer Group for Memorial Hospital area fagade improvements. Mr. Relos noted that this is a small addendum to the agreement we have with The Troyer Group which was tasked with finalizing the design plans, bid specifications, bid evaluation and construction oversight on the current improvements that are happening to the Skyway building and the skywalk between Memorial Hospital and the office building on the east side of Michigan Street. As the project progressed, the tower on the Memorial side of the building where the skywalk turns north to tie in to the Memorial campus was discovered to be right where Memorial had run its Metronet line. That had to be redesigned at an additional cost of$3,500 that was unforeseen in the original contract. He asked for approval of the addendum to the contract. Mr. Davis asked when the project would be done. Mr. Relos responded they are hoping to get the outside done yet this year, depending on the weather. Upon a motion by Mr. Downes, seconded by Mr. Alford and unanimously carried, the Commission approved the Professional services agreement addendum with The Troyer Group for Memorial Hospital area facade improvements. (2) Reimbursement of the Department of Administration and Finance for Economic Impact Analysis of the Morris Performing Arts Center, Palais Royale and Century Center. Mr. Kain noted that AECOM studied three city assets, the Morris Performing Arts Center, the Palais Royale and Century Center. AECOM is a global leader in analyzing public facilities such as these. The goal was to analyze what the impact is of these facilities to the downtown, as well as to look at other communities of comparable size and how those communities manage and operate similar convention centers and performing arts venues. In order to expedite the process we initially took the proposal to the Board of Public Works for approval and are asking the Commission to reimburse the city in the amount of$15,000. Mr. Davis asked whether this was part of an earlier conversation the Council had authorized which looked at the city's assets and whether we should keep them or not. Mr. Ford responded that this study will help drive the conversation about the operations of Century Center and other downtown assets. Although there have been other studies of these assets, there haven't been recent ones so we don't have any data to point to when we talk specifically about the Century Center. Secondly, the most valuable aspect of this study is benchmarking. It will not only look at our operations in South Bend, but compare them to operations in peer facilities in peer communities and where there might be room to grow or alternative models of operations that might make them more effective. 25