The Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission met yesterday afternoon. Â The Superior Street Row bid was rejected by the Commission. Â The reason is that the developer, Hartland Development LLC, only bid $1 for the 8,000 square feet needed for their project which makes it legally non-responsive. Â The average of the two appraisals required by law was $65,000. Â The State statute regarding such bidding processes requires that the Commission reject the bid, wait 30 days and then Redevelopment Executive Director Greg Leatherman may begin negotiations with Hartland for the best deal possible.
Commissioner Thom Obergfell asked if this process limited the receipt of potential proposals because of the $65,000 asking price. There was only one proposal submitted in response to the RFP. At this point, Greg responded, if there are other developers interested, they may certainly step up and talk with Redevelopment about a project. But my sense was with the amount of work put into this project thus far by Hartland, it would not look good for the City to end up going with another project. It could happen, however, I don’t think it will in this case.
Brownfield Grant for Summit Recycling and Transfer
This facility is on Pontiac and used to be part of the Fort Wayne Foundry. The grant will allow Summit Recycling and Transfer, who paid $350,000 for the property, to find out how much contamination is on the property and if remediation is needed. The major contaminant on the property is lead. Remediation costs could run as high as $400,000, although that is a ballpark figure and more will be known after the studies are completed.
The project represents a $4.6 million investment with job creation starting at 21 and ending over a period of years at 31 jobs created. It was also pointed out that this facility will bring some much needed competition to the City in regards to recycling of materials. Commissioner Judi Wire asked how the project fits in with the Southeast Strategy. The response was that this is a tough location and if this project does not happen, probably very little will happen with the project for many years.
Change Order #1 to a contract with Williams Electronics LLC
This change order was for $136,021 which had been removed from the Sheets parking deck funds on January 20, 2009. The amount had already been budgeted and did not represent an increase to the bottom line of the project. One interesting point to note, Lincoln Financial Group has access to the video and security features of the garage – probably remotely. This was planned because of the use the parking deck will receive from Lincoln employees. The video and security features are also accessible by the security for Parkview Field who are on site 24/7.
Change Order #4 to a contract with Nationwide Construction Group
This $11,958 increase resulted in last minute work completed to Parkview Field in regards to handrails and fencing.
City Council Final Harrison Square Finance Presentation
Greg Leatherman reported he is preparing a final report on the Harrison Square finances which will be presented to the City Council in May as well as the Redevelopment Commission.
Adams Township Industrial Area
For details on this part of the meeting, read this post.
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