2 Minutes 06-16-13 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting —June 26, 2013 6. NEW BUSINESS A. South Bend Central Development Area (1) continued... at $318,000. The Board of Works cannot award a project if there are not sufficient funds in the account. Ms. Schey asked who paid for the demolition. Mr. Kain responded that the demolitions were paid for by the owner, Great Lakes Capital. Mr. Downes noted that when you combine what Great Lakes Capital has invested with how important this green space is, this is the center of the city. It's a pretty good investment. Mr. Downes made a motion to approve Resolution No. 3147 approving and authorizing the execution of an Addendum to the Master Agency Agreement with the Board of Public Works (Studebaker Plaza), Mr. Inks seconded. The motion did not carry on a vote of two to one. Ms. Schey opposed. Mr. Meteiver noted that under the Redevelopment statutes, the approval of a particular measure requires three votes. In this circumstance unless someone wishes to change their vote, this measure will fail. Mr. Kain asked if he could clarify anything regarding this. Ms. Schey noted that she is concerned that for a park, this seems like lot of money. Mr. Kain responded that this is more than a park; this is a gathering space for people to host events. The costs are primarily in the elements of landscaping and brick paving. This is important for Downtown South Bend to have more gathering spaces due to the lack of a public square. When you have national experts come and talk to South Bend about public spaces, it's always been about creating a great dynamic one. This plaza helps us achieve that goal. Staff is seeing more interest in downtown living; for the first time, the Leighton Plaza retail spaces are full. There is a lot of energy downtown. This plaza will add to that energy. In terms of the cost, if we compare this to some of the other plaza spaces, it is lower. Staff has tried throughout the project to keep the cost down. The initial appropriation of $290,000 was meant to be for the whole plaza. At the time staff was not expecting to change the design, but we went through a process to change it to make the plaza more interactive, and that increased our cost by $29,000. The construction is still roughly what we anticipated last November. Ms. Schey asked for a comparison to the cost from another public space. Mr. Inks responded that the Key Bank Plaza cost $500,000 to build. Mr. Downes noted that the design of the Studebaker Plaza is a lot more public friendly. When you combine not only the location, but the success of other events that have taken place there, such as the red table series, this is truly the center of town. It gets a lot of activity. 4