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Home My WebLink About06/24/2008 COW minutes 1 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MINUTES JUNE 24, 2008 I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:07 p.m. in the Village Board Room of Village Hall, 50 South Emerson Street, by Mayor Irvana Wilks. Present at the meeting were: Trustees Timothy Corcoran, Arlene Juracek, Paul Hoefert, John Korn, and Michael lade!. Staff present included Village Manager Michael Janonis, Assistant Village Manager David Strahl and Community Development Director William Cooney. II. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES Approval of Minutes of June 10, 2008 motion made by Trustee Zadel seconded by . Trustee Korn. Minutes were approved. Trustee Juracek requested a modification of the minutes regarding her comments concerning the pending resignation of Trustee Lohrstorfer. Minutes were approved with the modification. III. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD None IV. RANDHURST VILLAGE REDEVELOPMENT - PROPOSED PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP William Cooney Community Development Director introduced the representatives of Casto Lifestyle Properties. The company is proposing a major redevelopment of the site and is requesting public assistance from the Village in the form of a sales tax district. He stated the plan will also be presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission on June 26. Bret Hutchens of Casto spoke. He stated that Casto was invited in by JP Morgan Chase the owners of the property to create a redevelopment plan for the site. He provided a general overview of the company and its expertise in this type of development. He stated they are the fourth largest privately held commercial developer in the United States. He also stated his firm specializes in redevelopment and focuses on developments generally embraced by community leaders; therefore their focus is on existing sites that already have the necessary demographics. He stated the proposal includes a new hotel, new restaurants and offices and would likely cause additional spin-off retail near the property. He provided an overview of the demographic comparisons to a similar market in " Winter Park, Florida where they undertook a similar redevelopment program. He stated their biggest challenge has been to work out arrangements to retain the mall anchors and to allow them to continue to operate during the reconstruction of the redevelopment area. He also stated it is expected that the project would be completed in the spring of 2010. Jim Conroy Director of Development for Casto Chicago spoke. He stated substantial work has already been undertaken to work with the al;lchors so they can remain open during the construction process. He also stated all access points into the property would remain open. The site would include a one story retail on either side of a main street with a second floor dedicated to a hotel with small parks throughout the site for pedestrian gathering. He stated Carson's would totally renovate their building with a new exterior and Bed Bath & Beyond would also undertake a similar improvement. Bret Hutchens stated Casto is requesting financial assistance from the Village through revenue generated on the site. He stated the housing component which previously consisted of apartments has been removed due to the existing leases, parking needs, and the economics did not support the housing option as previously drafted. He also stated there may be an opportunity to include some residential in the future though. He mentioned the mall in its current configuration does not draw the retail dollars possible in this area and shopping patterns have changed significantly since the mall was built. General comments from the Village Board members include the following items: · This is an opportunity to reinvigorate the area. · It was noted that this is an example of a private developer coming forward and getting the money put together for the project to move it forward. · It was also suggested that the Village improve the pedestrian accessibility of the site by way of improving the sidewalk network. Community Developer Director William Coney spoke. He provided an overview of public - private partnership and stated these are very common in this type of redevelopment. He stated the financing plan is part of the $150 million estimated project cost and the developer is requesting $25 million from the Village. All funds for this project would be generated by the additional sales tax from the project and there is no risk to the Village. He also highlighted the fact that the contribution to assist in this project would be over and above what is currently being received by the Village in terms of sales tax being generated out of the site. He also stated the Village is expecting to obtain an additional $1 million dollars in sales tax from the redevelopment. He stated the proposed financing plan for the project includes the following items: 2 ., · Y4 cent business district occupation sales tax unique to the Randhurst development only · Incremental local sales tax share over the base generated at the site currently · Increase the hotel/motel from 3% to 6% and provide the additional percentage revenue to cover part of the $25 million contribution for this project · 25ft amusement tax for each movie ticket He also stated that the increased food and beverage sales from the new restaurants would generate additional sales tax on the site. He stated that based on the Villages financial consultant this proposed return on investment is quite reasonable for the size of the project. General comments from the Village Board members included the following items: . It was reiterated that the revenue generated from this site would be incremental revenue over the existing base. . It was also noted that if the redevelopment does not happen the base will continue to deteriorate since the mall will not ever be able to operate as it did in its hay day. . It was also noted the Village is not writing a check to the developer. All the risk remains with the developer and the return on investment is based on their investment. Bret Hutchens stated that most of the tenants were on a month to month lease inside the mall and the typical return on investment for his company is 8 to 9 % %. He stated this project is a little bit different since it already has several anchors in place compared to trying to get the tenants to sign on to the conceptual development. He also stated it is their feeling the site will generate significant return on investment over the long term and there is no need to secure the property to obtain the proper zoning which reduces the cost of the risk to them. Matt Stakrovich Mount Prospect resident spoke. He asked what interest the developer is getting for future tenants for the site. Mr. Hutchens stated that he is currently working on leases with at least five national tenants and these tenants are looking for sites with ready make demographics and the interest exists because of this being a fill-in site. ~ Michael Laube Village Financial Consultant spoke. He stated the bonds posse no risk to the Village regardless of the success of the project based on this financing package as depicted. Mr. Hutchens also stated that without assistance from the Village this project would not happen. Consensus of the Village Board is to move forward with the financial concept as proposed. V. MANAGER'S REPORT Village Manager Janonis stated that next week is the start of the Lions Club Carnival from July 2 to July 6 and the Arts and Blues Fest from last Saturday was extremely successful. VI. ANY OTHER BUSINESS None VII. ADJOURNMENT Adjourned at 8:56 p.m. Village Board moved into Closed Session at that time. Returned from Closed Session at 9:36 p.m. and immediately adjourned at 9:37 p.m. since there was no additional business. _~~-L(j DAVID STRAHL Assistant Village Manager 4