![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.aroundfortwayne.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/icons\/t_City_Council.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Tonight’s Fort Wayne City Council meeting featured among other items, an update on Harrison Square. Deputy Mayor Mark Becker and Steve Brody (Harrison Square Consultant) spoke first stating the focal point of the presentation would be the condominium\/retail component of the project.\u00c2\u00a0 They then introduced Chris Schoen (Barry Real Estate) and Bill Martin (Martin Goldstine Knapke).<\/p>\n
Mr. Schoen stated that the council had asked for specifics and that he was going to give them.\u00c2\u00a0 He reiterated Barry Real Estate’s continued commitment to the project.\u00c2\u00a0 At this point, there are five condominiums under contract, meaning the deals have been closed.\u00c2\u00a0 He admitted this is behind where they wanted to be at this point, but that there are a number of things causing this.\u00c2\u00a0 He went on to say there is still interest in the condos, with some expressing interest in multiple units.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Early on, a reservation process was put in place.\u00c2\u00a0 They are continuing\u00c2\u00a0work to convert those reservations into contracts.\u00c2\u00a0 Others have come into the office expressing interest, but they are taking those directly to contracts, bypassing the reservations.\u00c2\u00a0 He said about fifty people are still interested at this point.\u00c2\u00a0 They are in the process of looking at marketing and other things to increase that number.<\/p>\n The architectural drawings and condominium documents are completed as well as construction of a model’s unit.\u00c2\u00a0 They will be launching some special targeted events and advertising shortly.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n He then went on to talk about the financial underwriting of the project.\u00c2\u00a0 He stated that the world is very different today than last year or even two years ago and that the capital markets have substantially changed.\u00c2\u00a0 Several “term” sheets had been negotiated with several lenders, which for one reason or another then didn’t finalize.\u00c2\u00a0 In response, Barry Real Estate has reforecasted their underwriting.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Condominium today is a bad word in regards to just the financing markets.\u00c2\u00a0 For people looking to finance projects, if it has a condominium piece, it’s just become a very difficult component.\u00c2\u00a0 We have really not begun to see a recovery in the capital markets, but having said that, y’all picked Barry Real Estate and Hardball Capital as part of this project.\u00c2\u00a0 You did that because of our ability to get things done.\u00c2\u00a0 Your Mayor at that time, your staff, came to our office, saw what we were doing, looked at our projects, they really did their homework.\u00c2\u00a0 We will finance this project -\u00c2\u00a0again, just want to reiterate our commitment to the project<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He went on to say that it will require a great deal more equity than they first thought.\u00c2\u00a0 When they first began putting the package together, they had planned on putting in about 25% of their own equity as investment.\u00c2\u00a0 (25% of the investment in the building, roughly $20.3 million.)\u00c2\u00a0 Meaning that 75% of the condominium’s and retail space would have been leased.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, he stated they are now in the process of finalizing their financing package in the next ten days.\u00c2\u00a0 They\u00c2\u00a0are looking at putting about 50% of the initial\u00c2\u00a0$20.3 million investment into the project, out of their own equity.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n They have 3 or 4 restaurant groups interested in the retail space and an executed Letter of Intent they are trying to move to a lease.\u00c2\u00a0 He then went on to address issues of timing.\u00c2\u00a0 He stated the projected construction period is 10 to 11 months.\u00c2\u00a0 To hit opening day of the ballpark, it would require a start in the July 1st to August 1st window.\u00c2\u00a0 He stated that a more likely start time window is August 1st to September 1st.\u00c2\u00a0 They are looking at ways to expedite\u00c2\u00a0the 10 month construction period.<\/p>\n We remain fully committed to the project and it is a Condominium project, not an Apartment project.\u00c2\u00a0 We continue to have the highest hopes for the project.\u00c2\u00a0 This project, as we’ve talked to you about, is really gonna change the face of Fort Wayne.\u00c2\u00a0 The condominiums are a new product.\u00c2\u00a0 [Editor’s Note: New to Fort Wayne?]\u00c2\u00a0 I touched on earlier, people are having to visualize and step out a little bit.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s taken a little bit of education and we believe there’s tremendous demand.\u00c2\u00a0 You saw it when people jumped on the reservation list early on and we just need the public to know this phase 1 is going to have the best views, it’s gonna be the cheapest priced product.\u00c2\u00a0 But we’re really excited about where it’s headed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A question from Tom Didier about what was next.\u00c2\u00a0 Schoen responded that they are going to be proceeding with the financing of the project immediately, and at the same time have conversations about how quickly the project can be built, and also finalize the condominium and retail leases – all this simultaneously.\u00c2\u00a0 He estimated this process to be about\u00c2\u00a045 to 60 days.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Tom Smith asked about the cost of the condo units and was told $150,000 to $300,000+ per unit.\u00c2\u00a0 He also asked the retail leasing rate and was told $27 to $30 per square foot.<\/p>\n Then, the\u00c2\u00a0following exchange between Shoaff and Schoen which\u00c2\u00a0starts at the 1:29:45 mark on the mp3 file:<\/p>\n Councilman John Shoaff<\/strong>: I’m a little confused here.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve sold five condos, you’ve got 62\u00c2\u00a0to\u00c2\u00a0sell [unintelligible] you’ve got to sell half and all this time you’ve only sold five and yet you seem to feel confident you’ll sell the additional 25, 26 in order to get financing on your terms in the next, what’d you say, month, 45 days or something?<\/p>\n Chris Schoen<\/strong>:\u00c2\u00a0 Well, what I tried to do was touch on all the things that have been taking place.\u00c2\u00a0 We arguably could have gotten going earlier on\u00c2\u00a0some of the pieces, but all the things that were really required for us to know exactly what they cost, exactly the drawings, so that the condominium documents being completed, all those pieces … all that had to be in place for us to be able to go to hard contracts.\u00c2\u00a0 So the reservation system that we instituted basically at groundbreaking (November 29, 2007) was a method to try to gauge people’s interest level.\u00c2\u00a0 We began trying to educate them in regards to what the condos would be like, what the finishes would be like, but we had to have the other pieces in place to be able to go to a definitive contract.\u00c2\u00a0 So we really didn’t start that process with Bill [Martin Goldstine Knapke], until 45 days back let’s say.\u00c2\u00a0 In that period of time we’ve been getting our marketing materials together, getting our sales pitch down, if you will, and we’re now at the point where we’re really beginning to convert all those reservations and expressions of interest to hard sales contracts…<\/p>\n John Shoaff<\/strong>: My real question, my real concern here is that, your contract with the City is relatively simple.\u00c2\u00a0 The City committed to build a stadium and it is building it.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re committed to building the condos and retail, furthermore, the contract says you’re committed to having it substantially complete by next June 1st, quite apart from a minor issue, ah, delay there, you talk as if your financing, ah, your\u00c2\u00a0going forward depends on financing, but the legal agreement with the City does not give you an out based on not getting favorable financing – it just says you’re going to build these things.<\/p>\n Chris Schoen<\/strong>: Understand that, ah, understand that.\u00c2\u00a0 Ah, you know, from day one, the legal contract doesn’t say it, nor does it have to, we anticipated having some component of bank financing in the project.\u00c2\u00a0 When we came out with the initial financing memorandum, it was in the 75-80% range -\u00c2\u00a0we’ve now revised that.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re now prepared to put a tremendous amount of [our own] equity into the project.\u00c2\u00a0 Our company, and one of the reasons you picked us,\u00c2\u00a0is we’re one of the largest in the country.\u00c2\u00a0 This is not a large project for us, but having said that, 50% of a project only being first mortgaged debt bank financing and to then\u00c2\u00a0make up the other 50% with a combination of other elements including equity is a big slug.\u00c2\u00a0 If what I think our plan is and what I’m trying to say is, we believe that a 50% debt level would be very acceptable.\u00c2\u00a0 We clean the package up, we’ve simplified it very much – if you will, we’ve still gotta come up with that number of units to get a bank to do it.\u00c2\u00a0 If in the end, we’ve only sold ten, we have a contractual obligation to the City.\u00c2\u00a0 If we have to come up with a way to fund 100% of it, right now I don’t know how I’d do that, but we’re committed to figuring out how to do that.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Tonight’s Fort Wayne City Council meeting featured among other items, an update on Harrison Square. Deputy Mayor Mark Becker and Steve Brody (Harrison Square Consultant) spoke first stating the focal point of the presentation would be the condominium\/retail component of the project.\u00c2\u00a0 They then introduced Chris Schoen (Barry Real Estate) and Bill Martin (Martin Goldstine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[236,17],"tags":[63,183,64,15,18,21755,133,66,16,72,70,75],"class_list":["post-664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fort-wayne-city-council","category-harrison-square-news","tag-barry-real-estate","tag-bill-martin","tag-chris-schoen","tag-fort-wayne-city-council-2","tag-fort-wayne-city-councilman-john-shoaff","tag-fort-wayne-city-councilman-tom-didier","tag-fort-wayne-city-councilman-tom-smith","tag-fort-wayne-deputy-mayor-mark-becker","tag-harrison-square","tag-martin-goldstine-knapke","tag-steve-brody","tag-the-harrison"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.aroundfortwayne.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/51373.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00c2\u00a0mp3 audio file of the City Council Meeting<\/p>\nRelated Images:<\/h3>
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t