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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-03-08 EURA MINUTES• • • ENGLEWOOD URBAN RENEWAL AUTHORITY March 8, 2006 I. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Englewood Urban Renewal Authority was called to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Development Conference Room of the Eng lewood C ivic Center, Chair Bertoluzzi presiding. Present: Absent: Staff: Absent: Eric Bertoluzzi, Anthony Gallardo, Don Roth, Laura Rogers, Jim Woodward Tom Burns (excused absence) Robin Weddle (excused absence) Vic Calo n der (unexcused) Senior Planner Mark Graham Planning Manager, Harold Stitt Robert Simpson (excused absence) II . APPROVAL OF MINUTES February 15 , 2006 Chair Bertoluzzi stated that the Minutes of February 15 , 2006 were to be cons ider ed for approval. Mr. Woodward stated the fourth sentence on page 2 needed to be reworded. Roth moved: Ga ll ardo seconded: The Minutes of February 15, 2006 be approved as amended . AYES: NAYS: ABSTAIN: ABSENT: Bertoluzzi, Gallardo, Roth, Rogers, Woodward None None Burns, Weddle The motion carried. Ill. FRANK GRYGLEWICZ LETTER Mark reviewed a letter dated December 19, 2005 to Mr. l<eith Marshall from Mr. Frank Gryglewicz regarding tax increment financing. Over the years staff has told the Authority the ind ebtedness ended on several different dates. This letter dispels that and states all of the TIF finan ci ng and all of the indebtedness ends as of August 23, 2007. A year from this August will end the payments on the bonds. Mark stated he and Harold Stitt noticed the August 23, 2007 date on a map they saw at the Council Retreat and asked for clarification. • • • Mr. Gryglewicz provided the letter to Mr. Stitt. The Authority had been told the debt expired in 2010. Mr. Graham provided the letter to clarify the debt expires in 2007. Mr. Bertoluzzi stated his understanding is the payments to the bondholders cease, however the taxes continue to be collected. Mr. Graham stated that was correct. Mr. Graham explained how a TIF works and stated as of August next year there will be about 1.3 million dollars available to the City. Mr. Bertoluzzi thanked Mr. Graham for his explanation. IV. ACOMA REDEVELOPMENT Mr. Bertoluzzi welcomed Englewood Lofts in for their presentation. Discussion ensued. Mr. Bertoluzzi thanked Englewood Lofts for their presentation. After they exited the meeting Mr. Bertoluzzi asked if the Authority would like to have a discussion regarding the rresentation or move on to the remainder of the meeting. Mr. Roth stated he and Mr. Woodward had sat through the presentation several times and he would be interested in hearing what the impressions of the other members were. Ms . Rogers stated she thinks it is a good project in terms of the anchor tenant and aesthetically. The only thing she has an issue with is the garage. She noted that since the City is going to pay for it, the City would have some control over it. She stated that without having talked to the other developer she couldn't make a decision one way or the other, but she felt having a business such as Cinema Grill, with that amount of draw, is the best choice and believes that is what the City wants too. Mr. Gallardo stated he likes the idea and Englewood Lofts' presentation was well prepared, but there is still another developer to look at. Mr. Graham stated Centex's presentation will be on Wednesday, March 15, 2006. Mr. Bertoluzzi thanked Mr. Graham for the volume of information staff had provided the Authority regarding the developers and presentations. Mr. Graham pointed out that staff did not start with Cinema Grill on the corner of Broadway and Englewood Parkway. They were originally solicited for the old David Taylor space. They looked at that space and several others around town but could not find the right situation. When Englewood Lofts and Centex came into play they wanted to build only housing. The role of Community Development is to bring in a commercial component to the downtown, as well as the residential. Staff likes the idea of Cinema Grill, have been working with them for a long time, but it was not just for this project initially. In both cases the developers had to go back to the drawing board and rework their concepts. Centex originally came in and made an offer on the property to leave the commercial corner and build housing on the rest. It was not a very good proposal, but has gotten better since they added the commercial component. They changed the housing from townhomes with an auto court in the middle to a wrap parking deck with a mixture of townhomes and stacked flats. 2 • Mr. Bertoluzzi asked Mr. Graham if he knew the location of the Cinema Grill in Aurora. He stated it is located at Alameda and Potomac, in a strip mall about a half mile west of the Aurora Mall. Mr. Bertoluzzi stated he had n eve r been to a Cinema Grill and asked what it is like. Mr. Graham responded that he had been there several times. It is a very functional little storefront area, the food is decent and the prices are reasonable. He stated the average tab is $14.00 for dinner and a movie. Mr. Graham noted that the Aurora location does not have first run movies; they are movies that have been cycled once. The theatre is abo used for various other things such as daycare centers bring children in for lunches and a movie and businesses rent the theatre for meetings and/or a movie. Mr. Woodward stated there is talk about video conferencing for businesses during the day where you could have lunch and conduct business. Mr. Graham went on to describe the food, atmosphere and set up of the location in Aurora. Their website is cinemagrill.com. Mr. Bertoluzzi asked if Cinema Grill would be signing a long-term lease. Mr. Graham stated they would be signing a long-term lease or would buy the building. Cinema Grill would have to come up with approximately 5 to 6 million dollars in capital to do the project. Mr. Stitt stated that by using one large tenant you do not have the management expenses you would with numerous smaller retail tenants. If the residential component is successful, filling the retail space won't be a problem because there are other things going on along Broadway that is driving development. If the developer can eliminate risk, that is what they • want to do. They will do that by having the tenant own the building. • Mr. Woodward stated he thought originally the developer was talking about dividing the space into two spaces, retail with 20 foot ceilings and lofts with 20 foot ceilings. Mr. Graham interjected that it would be lofts or office. The Lofts II proposal is lofts over retail. Scmeone has to take the risk and in this case they are asking the cinema owner to take the risk because of the expense of refitting the space for another use. It is a big commitment. Mr. Graham distributed an article about the Lowenstein theatre project. It is a 4.5 million dollar cinema. The Cinema Grill is investing 5 to 6 million . Staff has had the price per square foot numbers and tenant finish numbers to work with and have used them in some of the analysis and it is an expensive proposition to do the theatre. It is also an expensive proposition for the City and that is one of the reasons why staff shared information with the Council. Mr. Graham stated the Authority had received the calculations from the Development Research Partners and the memo tries to assess two things: 1. the actual cash dollars available through paying use tax, which will become available on an annual basis from sales tax revenues of the cinema project and 2. It calculates the spending based on national standards of the people that will be buying the condos in the amount of dollars that circulate in the economy as a result of them living there. If you compare the Englewood Lofts project with the Centex project they are very different numbers. Mr. Graham stated the numbers were at almost 10 million dollars for Englewood Lofts in respect to economic impact and 6.4 million dollars with Centex. The payback is very different for the three different concepts. One variation suggested by Councilman Oakley was to net out all the costs of the project and see what is left. The analysis was done, but ~.Ar. Graham was not able to replicate Mr. Oakley's numbers at this time. 3 • • • Mr. Stitt stated, to put the timeframe in perspective, the 30 million dollar Urban Renewal bonds were for a period of 25 years. The longest payback period for the Acoma project is Lofts II at 14 years. Mr. Graham noted the analysis does not show anything except for the money available from the Cinema to pay back the bonds. It does not include money coming in from the other businesses that benefit from the influx of people in the area. Mr. Roth stated the entire downtown area should benefit from the entertainment component. Mr. Graham noted staff has heard that same thing from Winslow Development. They received a report from The Genesis Group, who do absorption studies and analysis for what products you can sell and for what price points in the Metro area. They shared not the entire report, but one of the summaries was they did not have enough amenities at that site to sell at the price point they were hoping for to build the quality of units they had planned. They are struggling with how do we bring amenities to the site that will benefit all of the units. Brookings has said entertainment is key to a downtown and is one of the early steps in getting rental and ownership type units . Staff has been pursuing entertainment type uses such as bookstores, sit-down restaurants and movie theaters for about a year. Mr. Stitt stated in the final analysis it is one thing to look at the numbers and see how that works out, but there are a lot of intangibles that can be identified but have a hard time putting a value on. For instance, what does Cinema bring to downtown that perhaps Centex does not and vice versa. Maybe there is a high cost of having to pay for the parking to support a cinema, but the intent may be it attracts a range of businesses that perhaps the other type of development does not. In the end maybe, over a period of years, that generates a lot more good for the community. On the other hand, Centex has a proposal that is more conventional than the Englewood Lofts proposal, but it is a solid proposal and they would have no problem coming out of the ground right away and the payback period would be a lot shorter. In the end, with the type of development staff sees on the horizon for Englewood, and especially for the Broadway corridor, probably either one, if executed properly, would be great for the downtown. It comes down to what you want. Do you want the excitement of the cinema or the excitement of 100 -120 residential units in the downtown. Mr. Woodward stated one of the things he sees is the cinema has the potential to bring more nighttime activity for th e businesses into that corridor that th e average type retail does not. Mr. Woodward had two questions for Mr. Graham. He asked if Cinema Grill gets first run movies, how does that change their pricing point versus second-run movies. Mr. Graham stated he could not answer that question at this time. Mr. Stitt responded Cinema Grill is offering something no other theatre is offering, whether it is a first-run or second-run movie. If you want to have a meal and watch a movie it is either go to Blockbuster, rent a movie and go home to eat or go to Cinema Grill. Even if the cost of the ticket is more for first-run movies they are still offering something you cannot get in any other theatre. Mr . Stitt feels if will be successful at first because it is such a novelty. Even if you end up paying the same amount that you would at any other theatre it is the experience that is a whole lot different. 4 • • • Mr. Woodward stated the second question he had is with the Sheridan Redevelopment looking at theatres. He assumed timing is an issue. Mr. Graham stated timing is somewhat of an issue . He reviewed what first run theatres consider when coming into an area. The Sheridan Redevelopment meets the criteria for a first-run theatre. Mr. Stitt also noted that even if there is another theatre in the Sheridan Redevelopment they would likely have a different distributor. Cinema Grill did not believe that having a first run theatre in Sheridan would necessarily preclude then from having first run films. Mr. Graham stated several businesses in Englewood have been asking for new sit-down restaurants where they can take their clients and vendors. That is one of the things that has been driving staff to get entertainment/restaurants here. Staff is trying to meet the needs of primary employers in town. Mr. Bertoluzzi stated his thinking is still evolving, but there are a couple of issues that he believes are going to weigh-in heavily in making his decision. One, is parking. The other is , he believes this is the only piece of property in the downtown area that is owned by the City and that the City has control of. For that reason, the decision is profoundly important. Mr. Graham stated, as he understands it, the City owns other parking lots, but their status is different. They were paid for by special improvement districts and dedicated to parking. Mr. Bertoluzzi said he is going to be looking for a project that knocks my socks off because I want this to do something for the City. It is not necessarily the cost of the parking or the numbers crunching. He wants to see what does this project bring to the City of Englewood ... is it going to take us somewhere or it is going to be a project that fits in with the current demographics. It is the quality of life issue he is more concerned about, not the money. Mr. Woodward said what he hears is what the City started to deal with last year, which is to base decisions on what is the outcome we are trying to achieve, and then how do we get there. Ms . Rogers stated that is why she brought up the roof top park because it is something Englewood does not have. We have the art now, but even though the roof top park is $46 per square foot, that project is a critical point for the City and worth spending a little extra for some amenities because it's going to be the core of what causes the downtown to change. It is one more draw the City has to bring people from outside the area in to see the garden on the rooftop. It is how do you get the most for your buck. Mr. Woodward said part of the Centex proposal, as far as the restaurants are concerned, are fast casual, which starts to identify you in a certain way. Mr. Graham shared with the Authority other restaurants of the same type that Landon has that are also looking at space in the area such as Wahoo's Fish Tacos. 5 • • • Ms. Rogers asked how the City really feels about tourism, what is their stance on it. Mr. Graham said he feels the City does think of themselves as a destination . It is almost the problem with the retailing that is located in Englewood. A good example is l<aufman's. Mr. Kaufman claims his clients come from all across the country. A lot are athletes that live on the east or west coast. They come into town and buy a large amount of clothes and shoes at one time. Mr. Kaufman knows they are coming, he stocks up and knows how to serve the needs of a particular group of people. Ms. Rogers said we, as a City, don't have anything for people to want to come here. Mr. Graham said the trade area for Englewood retailers can be huge. Englewood does not have a shopping district because we don't have drop-in shopping and the casual shopping that people go to such as book stores, record stores or antique stores. Englewood has more destination shoppers. Mr. Stitt noted the City has several nice attractions such as Pirate's Cove, the golf course and recreation center. Ms. Rogers said she feels Englewood does not have any really well placed public spaces other than the Acoma space. Everything else is just too far away, it doesn't work for this Lil '.Jan core . Mr. Graham followed up with saying the City is in a window right now where people are building multi-family and it is no surprise that the developments that came forward are multi-family. If you try to capture a product and you go to the market you're subject to getting whatever the market is building at the time. Most of the Acoma property has been sitting idle since 1985. There have been a few attempts at developing, but unless you attract a big institutional or commercial user you're going to get what is popular at the time. The downtown could use some new life and this project is a combination of that hot residential product and maybe the good fortune of a business that is looking for a location to expand. Cinema Grill is also looking at expanding on the West side of town, we are not the only location they are considering. It is a decision of the Urban Renewal Authority and Council that will decide whether this property gets developed now or at some point in the future. V. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S CHOICE Mr. Simpson was not present. \'H. COMMISSIONER'S CHOICE There were no comments. There was no further business to come before the Authority; the meeting was declared adjourned at 8:15 p.m .. 6