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HRA Meeting <br />Minutes – Tuesday, February 17, 2015 <br />Page 8 <br />1 <br />indicated one type of product over another, there was still time to change that product with <br />2 <br />City approval. <br />3 <br />4 <br />Member Wall took issue with staff’s opinion that these three options outlined in the staff report <br />5 <br />are more policy than practice issues, since he found them very specific. Member Wall stated <br />6 <br />that he was uncomfortable moving forward with any of the three options; and questioned if <br />7 <br />staff had read the market analysis and whether they had spoken with the authors of that <br />8 <br />analysis. <br />9 <br />10 <br />Ms. Kelsey clarified that staff had spoken with GMHC staff, but not the brokers themselves. <br />11 <br />12 <br />Member Wall opined that staff had the most information of anyone present at the bench <br />13 <br />tonight, and asked staff for which option they would choose. <br />14 <br />15 <br />Mr. Bilotta stated that he would be willing to structure a deal to get Phase I done, and would <br />16 <br />consider whether to break Phases II and II out to seek other opportunities, opining that this did <br />17 <br />not need to be a one developer project. Mr. Bilotta noted that such a scenario would allow <br />18 <br />time for GMHC to pre-sell Phase I, while it would take longer than getting all phases done. <br />19 <br />From his perspective, Mr. Bilotta opined that this may fast track pre-sales and within six <br />20 <br />months, there would be a clear idea whether other developers are interested or not. Mr. Bilotta <br />21 <br />stated that Phases II and III worried him much more than Phase I, particularly the Dale Street <br />22 <br />concept, which needed to be taken on faith versus a better comfort level if Phases II and III <br />23 <br />were working together. <br />24 <br />25 <br />Chair Maschka noted a similar concept at Applewood Pointe, with Ms. Kelsey advising that <br />26 <br />only one part of the project turned out. Chair Maschka advised that, if he was developing the <br />27 <br />project, he would want ownership of Phase I if he was doing Phases II and III. <br />28 <br />29 <br />Ms. Kelsey concurred, noting that Phase I helped finance Phases II and III, and questioned <br />30 <br />how that would happen if it remained an unknown if any other proposal was coming forward, <br />31 <br />should another developer need the financing from Phase II to accomplish Phases II and III. <br />32 <br />With the cost of infrastructure construction, and need to locate them in the alley behind the <br />33 <br />development, Ms. Kelsey noted that this was causing a considerable amount of expense for this <br />34 <br />project, in addition to it being a denser project requiring water retention on site. <br />35 <br />36 <br />If the project was split into two pieces, Mr. Bilotta noted that stormwater management would <br />37 <br />be provided on Phase I to serve the later phases, another complexity of the Developer’s <br />38 <br />Agreement, with financial assisted requested by GMHC for that aspect of the project. Mr. <br />39 <br />Bilotta noted another “cream of the crop” issue for profit on the front end was transfer of the <br />40 <br />property at no price, and property paid for in Phase I to provide upfront income and then move <br />41 <br />into other phases with a cross-subsidy. Mr. Bilotta advised that this was a model that staff had <br />42 <br />not spent a great deal of time looking at yet, but could be another option for consideration. <br />43 <br />44 <br />Member Wall asked staff if they took issue with anything stated in the February 6, 2015 <br />45 <br />memorandum from GMHC. <br />46 <br />47 <br />Mr. Bilotta stated that he took no issue with anything as with any information provided by the <br />48 <br />developer or their brokers based on their interest in the project, which should be taken for what <br />49 <br />it’s worth from their personal perspective. However, Mr. Bilotta stated that he didn’t see <br />50 <br />anything being a major concern. <br />51 <br />52 <br />Member Wall suggested, therefore, that the HRA could rely on the GMHC and their bias from <br />53 <br />a developer’s point of view. <br />54 <br /> <br />