Cra Agenda - Regular Meeting

Here. I would like to welcome our newest board member, Brooke. Welcome to the board. We're excited to have you. So for business from the audience, the procedure, if you'd like to address the board about an item not on the agenda, please see Alexa and she will give you a form to fill out. We'll address these comments at the end of the meeting. If you'd like to speak on an item on the agenda, you'll have an opportunity to when we get to that item. I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda.

A motion, do I have a second? I'll second. Motion and a second. Nellie, please call the roll.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Next we have the staff report, Ms. Vasquez. the report unless anybody has any questions if you have any questions all righty thank you miss vasquez okay on to new business um next we have our first new business item um starting with the commercial interior grant reimbursement 104 circle park drive archery shudo is audrey here okay um so has anybody has everybody had a chance to look through these things anybody want to see this okay so um we have to make a decision on if we would like to approve or deny this grant um based on what is in here um we just have to remember that we would be setting a precedent with this isn't just a one-time exception we would be setting a precedent for any future grants

um making sure that they follow the guidelines that are set in these grades so i will open this up one of two ways obviously mrs is not here so we could make a decision or we could table it until the next meeting if you'd like to hear what she has to say if we deny it would she have the ability to resubmit it like resubmit a new Technically not because the work has already been done at this point. So we would have had to address that on the front end.

So she could apply for a different grant since she didn't receive this one. So if she wanted to do something different to her building or would that not?

So the way the grant works is once you have been awarded one, then you are ineligible to apply for another five years.

Even if she doesn't get the money from the grant, like she's ineligible?

Correct, because then those improvements that would have been eligible under the grant

yeah my concern is that we set those guidelines for a reason and that if we sway i mean it's not like we're we went over budget or something like that or she came back at any point and said hey contractors are changing or things are changing that's yeah so and it's not just the contract i mean the general contractor did not change but the you know the receipts and everything that we got a lot of like the receipts don't necessarily match up with the um

match up with the checks that are, you know, so there's, there's just a lot of discrepancy in there. So, um, but I think more than anything, typically in this case, it would be a contractor that is paid. And then in this case, it's just multiple people that are being paid things like Lowe's and back wall lumber and, and things like that. So,

Oh, that's specifically in the agreement that they signed too.

Right. And it's in our overview.

i mean i hate to tell somebody no you can't get the grant after they've been awarded the grant but like kind of like hey here are the rules and now you didn't follow the rules but we're still going to give you the money so everybody else that comes to us for a grant when they don't follow the rules and they expect that they still get their money what ground do we have to stand on at that point that's my concern with it whether she's here or not i agree no i don't think it's a good precedent to set the she didn't follow the rules yeah i mean it's a great thing that we're doing where you can qualify for this money and it's you have to follow rules to get them the grant yeah that's my work that would be my concern i would vote to not um approved the grant. I mean, I mean, if she can, but I guess she can't really resubmit the receipts because it was paid the way that it was paid. Correct. Yeah. Right.

Yeah. So I think that would be the issue. The only concern with tabling it would be, I'm not really sure that it's going to answer any

questions that we have. But that would be my concern is that it doesn't really change that one piece. I think if that was different, or there was some gray area, but I don't really know that there is. Is there any portion of the grant that would be reimbursable based on how she paid

the contractor not based on how it was submitted to us so the way that it was submitted was with two general contractor quotes the board making their approval to go with obviously the lowest quoted person that should have either one of the two should have been used because they were licensed and insured that's how it was presented to the board if she would have liked to have done it in another way she could have quoted subcontractors and then the board would have just needed to see two quotes for each subcontractor who was handling those for specific items, HVAC, electric. Since it wasn't done that way, then that's not the information that we have either to be able to utilize. So it really needed to be a general contractor was paid per what was in the application, and then that was what was given back to us as approval.

So I will entertain a motion to approve, deny, or table this item. I'll make a motion to deny this. commercial interior grant reimbursement for 104 Circle Park Drive.

I have a motion. Do I have a second?

I'll make a second.

Nellie, please call the roll.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Next, under new business, we have a property redevelopment update for 228 North Ridgewood Drive, Robert Blackman. Mr. Blackman, can you please tell us a little about what's going on with this one?

Again, happy to answer any questions. You finally got the... Timeline sent. I was having a problem attaching the attachment. Received. But basically, I was just there 10 minutes ago. Looks good. I talked to Drew, who's not here today. He's the project manager there for that and the hotel. He got a knee replacement, so that's why you're stuck with... the spot here again uh... but ron it's going next week chart shows what was happening one thing i know that on your agenda is i think there's an extension through June, if you look at the timeline, it's got it into the first week of July. So I would ask if you guys do want to make a motion to extend that we do that through July, just so you don't have to see me again until hopefully the ribbon cutting. But it looks great. I mean, at this point, it's a new build inside. You've got drywall, all new ducting, new electric, new plumbing. Again, all new interior glass, new elevator. So all of this stuff is pretty good. The exterior was painted twice because they hadn't been painted in so long that we didn't approve of the first paint job. So we got another company to do it again. We sealed the brick with expensive bricks. So it's really looking good. The only things, you know, that we were just... And by the way, the... Regis is coming to leasing people on Wednesday. If anybody wants to meet with them, I can find the time. And any of you all are welcome to meet with them. I would also... I did check. They have leased up a couple of spaces. You know, it's not as rapid fire as you'd like, but it's because it's still a moving target for when the actual moving date is. So I would love to offline put you guys in touch with the leasing people to maybe help do some cross-promotion. But... It's been a long road. I think it looks pretty good. Anybody here is welcome to do a private tour. With a couple days' notice, I can get Ron to get you guys in. And I mean that. Please take me up on that.

Do you know what time Wednesday they're going to be there?

No. I can check on that tonight. And then also, like I said, private tours anytime. But we are well over the hump here, and it's been a long journey. But I don't really have that many regrets. I'm happy that it's getting done. It's more time-consuming and a lot more expensive than I thought it would be. I think this has evolved into probably the most expensive project in the CRA's kind of... track record here, but at the same time, I think that's a good indication of what you guys have done to attract suckers like me. And I'm glad we are getting it done and hopefully it'll be successful, help downtown's growth and would love to do some kind of partnerships in the future on other projects. But happy to answer any questions.

So what are your plans with the exterior building?

Yeah, so we've already painted and pressure washed it. I would say that the exterior is light, what we're planning on still doing. I think they might be doing some exterior furniture in the circular area. We're going to do some landscaping, but there's no irrigation system there, so it's going to be water-friendly, native-type. plants. There's a couple of palms in the back that are dead. I'm going to take those out, do some stump grinding for old bushes and stuff, but it's going to be, you know, light work. And then we're going to reseal and restripe the parking lot.

What about signage?

Yeah. So my belief is, and I do need to get you guys. So hopefully somebody can get there on Wednesday. I believe they're going to put signage on the building, like Regis branding on the building itself.

Does that need to come back to us for review or no?

Technically, yes, since it is assigned in the CRA district. So we can work on that.

Yeah, I think so. I've just been kind of checking on the construction updates and not so much on the final.

Gotcha.

So I did see in the email chain that we had soon probably like loop net and things like that do you know like what they're um other than advertising in that way like do you know how they're trying to attract because i think that across the board you know that was the main question is how are we going to make sure that these spaces get filled yeah that's my concern too uh i have only

There's just so many movie parts because it's a big company. But I had one call probably a month ago with the actual leasing people. And offline, I'm going to get you guys. They're the people who are coming on Wednesday. I'm going to get you guys their contact info as well. Because people kept asking me for info, too. And I kept saying, I don't know. You can't. But I just didn't know the point of contact. It was just because it was too far out. But as we're closing in, yeah, what they said is that they get inbounds, too, through their own. you know, system. And basically, if you inbound and you're within a 40-mile radius, they're pushing you to this site, is what they said they were also doing. So in other words, their own, you know, international system, they're driving people to this if you call or email from within whatever geographical area.

So with your extension and everything, so let's say you're done mid-July and construction's finished. Is it immediately open?

Yeah, so it's the one other thing that there was just an email chain that I had read when I heard what it was on the phone call is they're just trying to determine when to put the furniture and stuff in. And they do that before CO. There's going to be a dust issue. But the second the furniture's in, it's open. And it's going to be, you know.

Because they offer day rentals and things like that. So that was just my question. Is it going to be six more months until you're open? Are we looking at a 30-day window from CO?

I would think within 30. I need to get those specifics. But the main thing that they were worried about that we dealt with two months ago was we had to pull the trigger on paying for all the... Well, we had the option to pay or do a long-term lease on furniture, but we opted to buy it because... That has a multi-month lead time. So that, I guess, is ready for delivery within 30 days. And that's what they're trying to figure out is when to put that stuff in.

Okay, so that's already been ordered.

Yeah, like months ago.

Oh, okay, great.

Yeah, so it's basically ready as soon as it is legal to be. Gotcha.

Any other questions? The extension that's being asked, is it July 31st?

Yeah, if you look at that little schedule it had, like the first week in July is kind of some of the tailing stuff. And then that also doesn't account for any of the parking lot, but I don't think that matters so much because it doesn't have to do with CO. But I just figured it would be easier to do July 31st, and you definitely wouldn't have to see me again. At least not until we do a ribbing day, which I hope you guys come to.

I do have another question on the leasing and finding tenants for it. Do you know if they're utilizing the MLS at all? I'm just thinking, how are we going to reach local people? Because obviously, it's going to be regional.

I have not been pushing it as hard as I feel like I should be on the leasing, just because natural counter in my mind was well you're still a couple months out right when i know now that we're i mean by the end of this month i'm going to be really pushing it super hard because you get a 30-day basically time frame but i i mean i just personally have not been pushing too hard okay and you're what's your contract with them how many years in the building I think it was multi-year, but I had the option to get out of it if it wasn't at a certain occupancy level, of which I can't remember off the top of my head.

So do they have to be at a certain occupancy pre-opening?

No. Okay. I mean, my thinking was it doesn't really matter to me. I mean, I want them to be as high as possible, but it doesn't matter because... whether you wait another month or whatever, you're still going to have a water bill. You're still going to have your electricity. You're still going to have your hard cost of ownership. So you might as well open it when you're ready. And also that will attract more people, too. I mean, I think a lot of it, too, is like seeing is believing. And I was very impressed when I was just in there. Like, it is a new construction building inside. It's really cool and really impressive, and it's by far the – Most modern thing in downtown inside of it. And once people start going through and, you know, you get some enthusiasm, I do think it's going to be successful. And that was just also, you know, me looking at the occupancy rates of that. I think it's the Wells Fargo Tower out on the highway. It's, you know, high occupancy, bigger spaces. But it's, you know, hasn't been updated in a while. So I'm hoping this really will drive basically working traffic downtown, which is... meals and drinks and whatever but getting some activity downtown because you know there's some other cities that i've been to recently and i mean if your people aren't seeing activity downtown it really panics them so i think getting the what you guys have done on other things but getting the foot traffic would be good but yeah and i i'm gonna definitely get you guys the leasing contact And I'm sorry I don't have more details on that. It's just what I've truly been really pushing on is getting the construction done. And I figure once we have that to show, naturally a lot of the leasing will follow has been my mental opinion.

So with your agreement with Regis, I know that you said you're not really sure as far as the term, the length of it goes. Do they have certain requirements for what the occupancy rate is of the building? Is there a way for them to pull out at some point?

No, it was one-sided where I could pull out if they didn't meet certain occupancy. Of what that standard is, I can't remember. Because I signed that a year ago. get everything put together and you know they've been good with me and I figure it's kind of more like a hey I don't want to push you because I trust you guys to be leaders in that industry but I need to follow through on my end of the bargain before I start pushing on your end of the bargain my end being a delivered building before I start saying where's all the people um so when the the buildings get like said imminently done i'm gonna start saying hey where's what's going on and let's get it going um they gave me good stories and examples like in lakeland they said they really did you know exceeded their expectations that's their closest center is lakeland um but yeah the i the agreement was one side where i could get out if i wanted to but basically it's a model where I'm paying, we fronted the cost to do the build out, and we did it to their specs with an architect that was recommended by them based on their center's designs. And we did all their furniture and fixtures and whatever.

You did.

Yeah, we purchased all of that from their proprietary vendors and all.

So if they pulled out, you own it.

Yes, I own everything. A bunch of chairs, tables, all sorts of wonderful stuff. and the flip side is they manage it so and they take whatever fee uh but they're the ones who are taking the imbalance for leasing they're the ones who are if there's a jam in the coffee machine or whatever they're the ones dealing with that so we're the ones delivering the finished you know package to their specific it's essentially kind of like a franchise deal where except for we're paying for all of it they're just the operator okay can i

Can I ask a favor of you? When you get a landscape plant done, can I see it, please? Yes.

Okay.

Yeah, it's not going to be anything too crazy. It's just going to be we're going to look at what's there, have a company come through, clean things up, plant some new stuff.

That's fine. I just want to make sure that the right plants are going in and the plants aren't going to hurt anyone. Absolutely.

Thank you. Any other questions for us?

it's exciting to see the progress i'm very i'm looking forward to yeah i hope i can make it by wednesday so just let us know when they're playing yeah that would be great i'm gonna get the wednesday date either tonight or tomorrow i'll send that to you and christy and then i really do seriously any day you guys can find i'll get with i'll put the info for raw so that we can get you guys you know one-on-one tours or whatever but it really i mean yesterday was the first day i've been up today excuse me right before i came feels really real like it's finally getting done so it is on their website too so that's pretty cool yeah but they don't have any pictures yeah well they wouldn't yet they do on like crexie and those other but they're just generic yeah it's from other centers and that's what you know when we get further down we get real you know pictures site specific i think that's going to get people much more excited than we're at now but i mean it's a it's a it's a cool building with a cool history

cool look to it in a great location so it really would be a nice anchor for kind of the boundary of you know what you guys been working on hopefully awesome thank you appreciate you making the trip over here absolutely thank you very much all right so that leads us to um the next under new business which is going to be the um agreement addendum for 228 north ridgewood drive um Just to kind of go over the changes on there, we're changing the use to all commercial development incentive in the amount of 600,000, which is what was previously agreed on. And the updated completion date is going to be July 31st instead of the initial June 30th. I'll turn it over to the board for discussion. entertain a motion to approve this item.

I'll move to approve the agreement addendum for 228 North Ridgewood Drive with the exception of the completion date being updated to July 31st. I have a motion to approve. Second. Oh, okay, with the exception. Never mind.

I'll second. Sorry.

I was like, are you not approving that part? And then I thought they were the second time, sorry. Motion and a second. Nellie? Yes.

Sorry.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. All righty. On to old business. We have no old business at this time. Alexa, do we have any business from the audience? No business from the audience.

Any board member remarks?

Welcome, Brooke. Thank you. Welcome. We're excited to have you. start with anything nothing okay yeah all right well that concludes the meeting we are adjourned