Points sent to each City Council Member, p 1

City Council Points September 12, 2010

The following are some ideas for halting demolition on the Livery and Daniels Showroom:

Financial Reasons/Fiscal Responsibility
- From a fiscal standpoint we feel that for the DDA to purchase these buildings for more than their appraised value and then turn around and tear down ½ to 2/3s of the complex is fiscally negligent and irresponsible.
- We feel that this it is not fiscally responsible of City Government or the DDA to demolish nationally significant historic buildings for a parking lot.
- The potential taxes that could be collected from the Longworth Complex as businesses would be roughtly . As a parking lot/sitting/entertainment area, it would bring $0 in taxes and would cost the city approximately to maintain.
- Three serious potential buyers have been interested in these buildings, but were chased away by the price that the DDA was asking to purchase these buildings and/or by the cost of sanitary sewer/water hookup fees.
- The DDA wants a buyer to pay $400,000 to purchase these buildings, but no one could get a mortgage for that amount, because the appraised value is only $300,000.
- When the DDA is quoting their renovation costs compared to our renovation costs they are not comparing apples to apples. They keep quoting the much higher cost of a “full fit out”, as opposed to the cost of “white-boxing” all the buildings. This helps to support their argument that they cannot “afford” to renovate these buildings.
- The DDA has continued to misrepresent the cost of reusing these buildings. A local builder has studied these buildings and has quoted a significantly lower price to stabilize and do any necessary repairs on the buildings. The following are his quotes
Charlie Shiver’s original quote for restoration and white-boxing the entire facility (all three buildings) was $800K. In a subsequent evaluation, Charlie estimated $500K to restore and white-box the Livery by itself.  This included all new structural work for the roof and 2nd floor.
The RFP Proposal called for about $2.2M for a full fit out of all three buildings, a green roof on the livery, a rooftop restaurant, and a roof top patio.
The one and only bid that the DDA obtained for restoration and white-boxing all three buildings was $1.50M-$1.75M.
- The following is an estimated cost comparison for the Chelsea Connection Proposal vs. DDA “Plan B” (See Attachment A for more detail)

Chelsea Connection:
DDA takes a $200k loss on sale, plus a $50k loss for professional fees: total loss of $250k
Chelsea begins collecting property taxes: first based on new basis for the property ($200k) – maybe $6000/ year, and escalating as property value increases with renovation.