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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-07-1998 Meeting I I I REAL ESTATE MEETING COMMITTEE ROOM - July 7, 1998 PRESENT: Hons. Larry Sconyers, Mayor; Todd, J. Brigham, Mays, Kuhlke, H. Brigham, Shepard, Beard, Powell, Handy and Bridges, members of Augusta-Richmond County Commission; Randy Oliver, Administrator; Jim Wall, Attorney; Lena Bonner, Clerk Commission. of Mr. Wall: There have been a series of ongoing discussions between vic Mills with Blanchard & Calhoun, Kevin Shea, the Development Authority and myself insofar as the letter agreement is concerned. Last Monday I thought everything had been finalized as far as the letter agreement was concerned. Vic ,Mills was. on the telephone call for a period of, time and, then 'left.:, When: the lette,r got hereto be si,gned, Monte Osteen s-ig,ned it for-the DEwelopmEmt Authority, 'I sent it over 'for the Ma'yor"s signature but in the meantime Vic Mills sent a fax to Delta ,saying' they were unwilling to agree to certain provisions. The bottom line is who is going to assume the risk of the infra- structure improvements, etc. in the event that it exceeds the $600,000 that the City has agreed to put up. Vic, clearly in my mind, agreed to assume that responsibility in the telephone conversation. Jerry Dye and I talked about it today and we heard the same thing but I think his partners said he can't assume that risk. This has been an issue for the last month. Delta is upset because they had a time line of July 2 and anticipated that letter of agreement being signed and it is not signed. They will meet on it this afternoon but this morning' I got a letter from Delt.a.which basically says that, "It's unfortunate that we are 's~ill struggling to complete the letter agreement. It is my full intention to distribute the request for proposals for both sites to the selected developers by Friday, July 10. It would be clearly helpful if the letter of agreement, etc." They are looking at secondary sites and secondary cities at this point and they spent yesterday, I'm told, looking at least at three sites elsewhere in Augusta. I don't know about the other city. Delta wants this ready for occupancy in March of 1999 and they have a tight schedule. -" Mr. Todd: How much overrun can you have on $600,OOO? Mr. Oliver: We haven't done the cost estimates. Mr. Wall: Vic Mills submitted the cost estimate that I have which was $600,000 with Swift doing the engineering. When the Development Authority got involved, they didn't want to use Swift, they wanted to use Southern Partners. That change was made two weeks ago and they are supposedly on board developing that information. We recognize that there may be unforeseen ground conditions out there but outside of that scope, Blanchard & Calhoun should step up and assume that risk since they had said they would. A secondary issue between Vic Mills and the Development Authority involves the Authority ultimately buying 30 to 35 acres so that they have land on which to place additional spec buildings all at a cost of $50,000. This will be an office and business park as opposed to industrial or manufacturing. After further discussion, Mr. Wall: I don't mind taking the letter and going to another developer if we need to. Mr. Kuhlke: I think you need to tell Vic that we are in dangerous territory and see if he is going to do the deal based on the way he expressed it. If he does not, then you go. And make it clear to him that we're not going to lose the deal because of him. I Mr. Wall: I hope that Monte is driving that point home this afternoon,and it may be a non-issue. Mr. Todd: Would we somewhat agree that we let the Mayor, the Administrator and the County Attorney save this project? It was the consensus of the group that this, be done. Mr. Oliver: On the Enterprise Mill/St. Sebastian Way project, we've had discussions over the last sixty days. Clay Boardman wants some commitments on this project that I can't recommend. It's come down to a question of whether we want to condemn that portion for St. Sebastian Way, recognizing that we will potentially be looking for the rest' of the money in the I future. He's submitted a plan to George Patty to turn St. Sebastian Way into a parking lot. He ~ants a commitment on the completion of the project from Reynolds St. through to St. Sebastian Way now. Mr. Norwood"s office is trying to get federal funds reappropriated and at this particular point there is some question as to whether St. Sebastian Way will even be eligible so in my opinion, we can't make that commitment without funding for it. He also wants us to agree to accept the amount of parking he can give us from the residual and not knowing what he's going to put in there, I think it's a bad precedent to set to approve the plan not knowing how much parking is going to be required. He also wants this to be the number one priority as it relates to the Greene street/Riverwatch fly-over and all that and that is contingent on federal funding. If you are committed to st. Sebastian Way, I would recommend that we at least start the condemnation process to try to get the negotiations going. Would you want to proceed with that? Mr. Kuhlke: I'd go back to Clay and see if he will donate that land. Mr. Oliver: He had previously said he would but I think he's changed his mind. Mr. Kuhlke: I'd still ask him. I After further discussion, Mr. Oliver: I would propose that we take whatever this acquisition number is and use it for I I I streets cape improvements. Mr. Wall: Then the consensus is you want us to go ahead and try to acquire the property." Okay. ,. >t ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.' Lena J. Bonner Clerk of Commission NWM