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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-05-01 EURA MINUTES• • • ENG LEWO OD URBAN RENEWAL AUTHORITY May 1, 1991 I. CALL TO ORDER. The regular meeting of the Englewood Urban Renew a 1 Authority was ca 11 ed to order by Chairman Totton at 5:35 P.M. in Conference Room A of Englewood City Ha 11. Members present: Minnick, Schmidt, Tatton, Whatton, Gease Wanush, Executive Director/Executive Secretary Members absent: Bullock, Byrne Daugherty, Alternate Member Also present: Pamela Pepper, Economic Development Administrator II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES April 3, 1991 Chairman Totton stated the Minutes of April 3, 1991 were to be considered for approval. Minnick moved: Schmidt seconded: The Minutes of April 3, 1991 be approved as written . AYES: NAYS: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: Schmidt, Totton, Whatton, Gease, Minnick None Bullock, Byrne None The motion carried. III. TAX INCREMENT BOND ISSUE Mr. Wanush distributed copies of the letter and informational statement from the Authority which was mailed to all bondholders on April 29, 1991. Mr. Wanush stated that he has received three calls from bondholders to date; all were requesting clarification. Notice of the potential default has also been sent to four major municipal securities information repositories. Mr. Wanush stated that estimates on revenues available for the June 1 interest payment indicate a shortfall of $500,000+/-. We do not know at this time how much the Trustee will retain of the available funds to cover their fees and expenses. Mr. Wanush stated that he and Mr. Benedetti have been informed that the Trustee wants to hold back funds to "cover potential lawsuits". This proposal has been opposed by Mr. Benedetti and Mr. Wanush. Ms. Schmidt asked who would "police" the Trustee. Mr. Wanush stated that the bondholders would police the Trustee. Mr. Gease stated that as he understood the role of a trustee, they were to oversee the disbursement of 'funds, but were not to be a "problem". Mr. Wanush stated that this is correct; but once a default occurs, they take on additional responsibilities . - 1 - Mr. Wanush stated that at the meeting of April 3, 1991, the Authority request- ed that a meeting be scheduled with the Trustee. This issue has been raised • in conversations with representatives of the Trustee, and to date we have been unsuccessful in arranging such a meeting. The Trustee has not made a deter- mination on what procedure they will follow after the default on June 1. The Trustee will have a meeting among their own representatives sometime during the week of May 6 to try to make such a determination. Mr. Wanush stated that he and Mr. Benedetti would pursue efforts to arrange a meeting with the Trustee and the Authority, but questioned that the Trustee will be amenable to such a meeting. Mr. Wanush suggested that if members of the Authority receive telephone calls regarding the default that the callers be referred to him, or to Paul Benedet- ti during his absence from the office while on vacation. This suggestion met with the approval of the Authority. IV. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS Retail Committee Shoppers Survey Economic Development Coalition Mr . Wanush introduced Pam Pepper, Economic Development Administrator, to the Authority . Mr. Wanush pointed out that the sole reason for the default is a lack of economic activity to repay the bonds. Ms. Pepper's job is to try to generate additional economic activity, not only in the downtown and EURA areas, but City-wide. Ms. Pepper stated that the Department gets a lot of calls and inquiries on why can't the City force the lowering of leasing rates to get the vacant spaces in Trolley Square, Phar-Mor Plaza, and Englewood Exchange filled. The properties are privately owned --NOT owned by either the City of Englewood or by EURA, and we cannot dictate rental rates to prospective tenants. Ms. Pepper pointed out that Trolley Square is still under "construction loan"; permanent financ- ing has never been obtained. Phar-Mor Plaza is in receivership because perma- nent financing could not be obtained, and Sevo is now working on leasing space in this development. Ms. Pepper pointed out that Michael Taylor School of Hair Design has leased the endcap at Phar-Mor Plaza, which amounts to approxi- mately 5,000 square feet. While this business is not retail, it does fill vacant space and brings additional population into the area which can trans- late into shoppers and increased sales. Ms. Pepper discussed efforts to as- sist leasing agents for Trolley Square, Phar -Mor Plaza, Englewood Exchange and Englewood Marketplace, in addition to working with Cinderella City. Ms . Pepper discussed the retail committee which began meeting last month. This is a group of businessmen who want to offer input on retail activity in Englewood and Cinderella City, and grew out of a retail seminar that was held last Fall. The retail committee is not "run" by the City. It is the opinion of this committee that the City does have a responsibility to Cinderella City. Ms. Pepper stated that Mr. Art Davis has been hi red and is working with the City and Cinderella City in an effort to improve the image and shopping poten- tial of the Mall. Mr. Davis is working toward a "community space'' of approxi- mately 10,000 square feet to be set aside in the Mall. Ms. Pepper also dis- tributed copies of Minutes from the latest Economic Development Coalition meeting. Ms. Pepper stated that while KRAVCO/Equitable are the owners of the Mall , and are continuing to work toward leasing the vacant space in the Mall, there maybe someone else interested in acquiring the Mall and expending the - 2 - • • • • • funds needed to improve the it. Ms. Pepper stated that leases for the anchor tenants expire in 1992 and 1993, and this is a critical time for the Mall . While the EURA does not collect sales tax revenues from the Mall, the success of Cinderella City is tied to the success of the EURA redevelopments; if the Mall is successful, it will enhance the EURA areas; conversely if the Mall continues to decline it will be very difficult to attract tenants to the EURA area. In short, Cinderella City is a very high priority on the City's agenda. Ms. What ton pointed out that businesses are going to the south or to the north, and not locating in the established areas such as downtown Englewood; does the City really need the Mall; is it doing any good for the City. Ms. Pepper stated that the shopper's survey will be an attempt to determine what we can do to bring peop 1 e back to the area. Previous surveys have been of shoppers that were at the Mall, and Ms. Pepper has had access to this informa- tion. We have $20,000 budgeted for the Shopper's Survey, and Mr. Davis is trying to obtain funds from corporate headquarters to finance their share of the survey. Mr. Wanush stated that this survey will go beyond previous shop- per's surveys conducted at the Mall, and will be sent to people who may not shop Cinderella City to see what would make them want to do so. Mr. Minni ck suggested that the security offices should be re 1 ocated to the main level and downstairs in the Mall. Mr. Wanush pointed out that revenues from Cinderella City are significant and support the General Fund of the City Budget. The overall City Budget is ap- proximately $20,000,000, and if the revenues generated by the Mall were to be eliminated from the Budget .it would have a great impact on the operation of the City . The former Buyer's Club site was discussed. Ms. Schmidt inquired about the possibility of Wal-Mart locating on the site. The distance factor between Wal-Mart stores was discussed, and Mr. Minnick mentioned that a new Wal-Mart is being constructed at Quincy and Wadsworth. Mr. Minnick commented that in his opinion Englewood needs to attract a Fred Schmidt outlet; people are "tired" of Silo and Silo doesn't back up their advertising. Mr. Minnick fur- ther commented that larger anchors in Cinderella City are cutting their square footage in half. The rental rates for space in the Mall was discussed, as was the decrease in hours the May D & F Store is open. Ms . Pepper discussed contacts regarding the Buyer's Club building. One tenant wanted more square footage than was available, and another had to put plans on hold during the time of the Persian Gulf crisis/war. Ms. Pepper stated that the site is in a good location, and she does feel there will be a retail ten- ant in that building within the next year. Ms. Pepper discussed a request to modify the signage for Phar-Mor Plaza erec- ted in the Englewood Parkway median north of U.S. 285. Staff will be discuss- ing this request with officials from the State Highway Department to gain their approval of the modification, and the modification will also have to be approved by the City Council. Mr. Wanush stated that if tha modification of the signage is approved by the State Highway Department and by City Council, he would sign on behalf of the Authority. Ms. Pepper stated that the leasing agents (Sevo) think the sign modification will be of assistance in attracting tenants to the Phar-Mor Plaza . - 3 - Ms. Pepper stated that the Liquor Licensing Authority did approve the license for Trolley Square Liquors. Ms. Pepper stated that she has not heard whether the approval has been appealed by the opponents, but on the past several ap-• peals the State Board has upheld the decision of the local Liquor Licensing Authority. Ms. Schmidt inquired about the possibility of Nordstrom's locating in the Cin- derella City Mall. Would a store of this type be likely to locate in this area. Mr . Totton pointed out that DURA is still trying to get Nordstrom's to locate in downtown Denver. Ms. Pepper pointed out that May D & F own their building at Cinderel l a City; it is not part of the general Mall ownership. Discussion ensued. The general economic trends of the metro area were discussed. Ms. Pepper pointed out that even with the high vacancy rate in retail space of the entire metro area, developers are still building more retail. Ms. Pepper did point out a 7.3% increase in housing activity nation-wide during the month of February. Ms. Schmidt commented with homes in Englewood being upgraded, maybe this would encourage more people to settle here. Mr. Wanush commented on re- cent figures indicating that a large number of households are single parent or single person households. Mr. Minnick stated that if Lowry Air Base is closed, this will also have an impact on the economy of the area. Ms. Pepper stated that she had spoken to Mr. Myrick from Josl ins to see if they could determine where their shoppers come from; there is no one area that the customers of this Joslins store come from, but from the entire metro area. This seems to point up the fact that there is a lot of "employee shopping" on lunch hours, etc. V. REVENUE REPORT Mr. Wanush reviewed the Revenue Report, noting that property tax collections year-to-date amount to $146,380, or 12.13% above this same period in 1990. Sales tax collections year-to-date amount to $296,638.76, or 6.36% ahead of this time in 1990. Mr. Wanush stated that he anticipates a continued upward trend on property taxes in light of the County Assessor's revision in the way abatements are apportioned. Brief discussion ensued. VI. DIRECTOR'S CHOICE Mr. Wanush distributed copies of the latest billing from Paul Benedetti's of- fice for general information. VII. COMMISSIONER'S CHOICE Mr. Tatton stated that he has known Dean Coddington of BBC (who will be con- ducting the shopper's survey) for 20 years, and has found Mr. Coddington to be very conscientious and conservative in what he does. There being.no furt~e r business to come before the Authority, the meeting was declared adJourned at 6:25 P.M. · - 4 - • • • • • Gertrude G. Welty Recording Secretary - 5 -