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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-01-23 Business and Economic Development Committee Minutes � BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE � January 23, 2008 Councilors: Hawes, Farrington, D'Errico, Wheeler Staff: McKay, Bolduc, Barrett, Heitmann, Ring, Bilancia � Others: Rohman CONSENT AGENDA � A motion was made and seconded to approve the Consent Agenda. The Consent Agenda � was unanimously approved. 1. Request for Extension of Lease at 39 Florida Avenue —Jenkins' Professional � Cleaning 2. Terminating the City Council Designated TIF districts for the Waterworks, for a - then planned restaurant, and for Jordan's Meats, which ceased Operations. REGULAR AGENDA � 3. Permanent Gaming Facility— Bangor Historic Track - Request for Granting of � Utility Easements; Easement to Bangor Historic Track, Inc. and Acceptance of Deeds from Bangor Historic Track, Inc. Heitmann reviewed the easerrients and deeds. He indicated that the current agreement '� the City has with BHT includes leasing for their parking. BHT would like to expand that parking area which would take up the remainder of that lot. One possibility is that the � .. City would be amending the agreement with BHT to deal with both the barn issue and the parking issue. He wanted the Committee to know that this may be coming back to the Committee. A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of staff's � recommendation to full Council at their upcoming meeting. 4. Commission on Cultural Development's Annual Report � At the request of John Rohman, this item was taken out of sequence as Item 3. Rohman thanked Sally Bilancia for her great assistance with this project. He also � thanked Evelyn Silver, who is leaving the Commission membership. He briefly reviewed the Commission's annual report, which had been previously provided to the Committee. Monies were disbursed to: Penobscot Theater, Bangor Countdown, American Folk � Festival, Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Bangor Museum and Center for History, Bangor Public Library, Robinson Ballet. The dollars spent have been well invested. He expects an expansion to the arts community for the upcoming year with more outreach in � education and with website development. He requested that the Commission be given �an opportunity to provide their annual report at the end of their fiscal year from now on as opposed to the calendar year. It would bring them back to the Committee within six � months. Wheeler asked if the Commission has been involved with the conceptualization process for the new arena facility. Rohman said Susan Jonason is on the arena study group and is a member of the Cultural Commission. As the time draws closer, he expects the Commission to be fully involved in the arena process. Rohman � mentioned that the Commission also covers an area of reviewing proposals for public art. � � � � � 5. Request for Refinancing — General Electric McKay said this is a change in the lease arrangement because of refinancing being � proposed by GE. If approved by the Committee and Council, action will authorize a seventh addendum to lease required to assist General Electric to refnance its � buildings at BIA. These expansions were initially financed by Fleet National Bank through a loan to the Bangor Target Area Development Corporation for which GE is the guarantor. The City's lease agreements with GE and GE's loan guarantee � provide security for Target's loan from Fleet. The rental payments paid by GE to the City are in two parts: a base lease amount which the City retains and an additional lease amount sufficient to pay the debt service on the Target loan. � The City assigns these additional payments to Target, which then makes loan payments to the bank. McKay explained that this financing arrangement has worked well for all parties, keeps this debt off of the City's books, and avoids any � risks to the City. GE is working toward refinancing through Key Bank with a closing schedule for February 1�. The City has participated in several other refinancings of this loan over the years. A motion was made and seconded to � recommend approval to the full Council at its upcoming meeting. 6. Request for Subordination of Community Development Loan — Hammond Street �, Courtyard � McKay indicated the City had participated in the rehabilitation and reuse of the former � Bangor Furniture site and several properties in that area owned by Hammond Street Courtyard, LLC. They originally had a mortgage from Bangor Savings Bank for the majority of the renovations and the City had a subordinate mortgage to that as well. � They did an additional $200,000 in improvements after the first round of improvements so Bangor Savings had a first and second mortgage. Hammond Street Courryard now would like to refinance the first and second mortgages held by Bangor Savings Bank into � one mortgage and to take out additional financing for improvements on the properly. To do that, the bank wants to be in first mortgage position and they are requesting that the City agree to subordinate its mortgage to the new financing. The City's policy is that � as long as it is at no greater risk than when it made the first loan that it potentially allows it. If any additional money is taken out of the project, any equity withdrawn, that it be used for further improvements to the property. StafF recommends approval. � Farrington asked about the financing mechanism. D'Errico asked about planned future improvements. Wheeler asked about Kelly Realty Management partners. A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval to full Council. � 7. Approving Proposal for Professional Engineering Services —Columbia Street Parking Deck Assessment— Becker Structural Engineers, Inc. � McKay said the City engaged a local engineering firm to work on the issues with the Columbia Street Deck. The recommendation was for demolition and rebuilding of the � deck at a project cost of$800,000. It went out for bid and it came in for $1.6M. The City had bonded $1M so didn't have the funds to take that approach. The City has been engaging Becker for clip replacements on the Pickering Square Garage. Becker � specializes in parking garage repair. During the bidding process for the Pickering Square project, contractors independently contacted Becker asking them to look at the � � Columbia Street Deck. Becker feels that portions of the structure do not need to be � replaced; i.e. concrete tees, and feel it can be done at a lesser cost. Ring indicated that the original structure was completed in the late 70's. In further conversations with Becker, they feel strongly feel that repairs are a viable option as opposed to full replacement of the structure. StafF is requesting authorization to enter into a contract � with Becker for $8,870 for them to perform a more thorough analysis which will involve . some actual testing of concrete, thoroughly review the drawings and past repair - projects, and offer an opinion on whether the City should repair or replace the structure. � Responding to Farrington, Ring said this proposal is not to do the final design. Ring is comfortable with Becker's expertise. Becker has an opinion as to the viability of repairing the structure but wants to do a more thorough investigation. They would not do the final design for a rehab project but Ames has already done a lot of that work. Responding to Farrington, Barrett said the Pickering Garage structure was designed with a certain clip system which was basically with tees holding up beams. At the time, it � was an older system that was gradually being replaced with a new system. At the time, it was an acceptable approach. The error made was on the expansion where the City specified the new system and the company manufactured the tees with the old system. � A settlement was negotiated which gave the City a cash settlement which provided sufficient funds to cover the additional maintenance costs associated with it. Wheeler asked how many years the deck has been in service. Ring said_the original construction was around 1976-77. A rehab project was completed in 1990. Wheeler asked the total capacity for parked vehicles. Ring said 75 or 80. Wheeler asked the percentage designated for adjacent businesses, permit spaces and general public. Barrett said the majority of the bottom level is by permit, there are three designated spaces for the UM � System, the top deck is about half and half— hourly versus permit. The permit rate charged is the highest in the system. Wheeler mentioned that the deck is the former � site of the old Bangor City Hall. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff's recommendation. 8. Executive Session— Economic Development— Negotiations for Disposition of � Properly— M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(C) A motion was made and seconded to move into F�cecutive Session. � 9. Committee Action on Above Item � A motion was made and seconded to recommend to the City Council that Hodgdon Marine LLC be designated Tentative Developer of 16.62 acres of land owned by the City of Bangor located in Hampden know as Stearn's Pit, for � Hodgdon Yachts/ Maine Marine Manufacturing use to manufacture boats. . 10. Development Status Report � Due to time constraints, this item was tabled to the next meeting of the Business and � Economic Development Committee. � � . �