Casey thought they could have trouble financing the project in the current |
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environment, and he suggested using Recovery Zone Facility Bonds |
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through Oakland County as the financing vehicle. The City asked and |
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received pre-proposals from several developers to access the feasibility |
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of the project. Questions included whether the rental rates were feasible, |
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what the conceptual cost estimate would be and how the company |
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proposed to finance it. There were four submittals, and all thought the |
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project was feasible, although they recommended a longer lease term |
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Mr. Casey presented four models regarding ownership of the land. The |
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first was sale of the land - the City would price it at the market, but had |
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originally overpaid $4 million out of the Water and Sewer Fund. The |
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second was to offer a ground lease rather than sell the land. The third |
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option was equity, whereby the City would be a partner, bringing the land |
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and getting a portion of the rent. The City could turn over the land at the |
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end of the ground lease, or it could be sold at any point to someone else. |
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The last option was to have an authority of the City - the LDFA or the EDC |
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- own the building. If the LDFA owned the building, it could not use |
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Recovery Zone bonds; however, it could still use General Obligation |
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bonds (municipal) to do the project. The EDC could use Recovery Zone |
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bonds. This option could have the most risk, if the company filed |
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bankruptcy or tried to get out of the lease early. The building would be |
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built for a specific user and might be hard to re-lease. Mr. Casey |
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suggested that they could build two buildings; one office and the other |
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office and flex. Mr. Damone asked if the City would take a subordinated |
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position on the ground lease, noting that if the loan went bad, the bank |
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could take the building and land. He pointed out that the ground lease |
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owner could always make the bondholders whole. |
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Mr. Casey said that the City could offer tax abatements. The value of the |
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abatements to the company would be $2.65 million for 12 years (a |
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percentage of real and personal property), which would make the project |
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more feasible and reduce the rental rates. One of the advantages of |
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going through the LDFA was that it captured taxes from other |
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jurisdictions, such as the County, so the City could be repaid much more |
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quickly. Another incentive would be to provide some of the $751,000 of |
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site development money, if needed, for things like a retention pond, |
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