Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Three Proposals Reach Next Stage

Still in the Game
Chauncey Gardens
The Chauncey
4-0-4


Iowa City Public Art

      With most Councilors not expressing a preference for a particular proposal, the three that made the cut will undergo further review by City staff and the National Development Council, based in New York. Jeff Davidson, Director of Planning & Community Development, several times emphasized that the Council could reject all proposals and set new criteria for submission of another round of proposals, but the Council rejected that option on the basis that the remaining developers already had considerable resources invested.

     The City Finance Director has been removed from playing any financial oversight role due to a New Pioneer board member filing a complaint with the City Manager, accusing the Finance Director of having a conflict of interest because he personally does not support the relocation of the Co-op to the College/Gilbert site. It is bothersome that another member of the New Pi board, a City employee, has not been asked by the board to resign from one or the other position to avoid a perceived conflict of interest. It is apparently acceptable to some board members for a director/public employee to have a vigorous public voice in support of New Pi's relocation, but not acceptable for a public employee/co-op member to have an opinion expressed privately to New Pi directors. It makes one wonder whether other New Pi board members may have been working with City staff during the more than two years of this process in an effort to secure their desired relocation goal. A FOIA* request has been filed with the City by this blog's author in an attempt to better understand the process.


4-0-4
     The least attractive and totally unimaginative proposal (it looks like an inner city housing project of yore), is 4.0.4, a brown blob of commercial space and rental apartments with New Pioneer on the ground level. 4-0-4 has committed to Platinum Level LEED Certification and at eight stories it is the shortest of the proposals and would generate the least amount of property taxes. LEED Certification has come to be a desired end, but is time consuming and involves considerable expense. Please see the articles, LEED Advantages and Disadvantages, at http://www.lundygroup.com/about/historical-projects/green-projects-leed-certified/leed-benefits-and-disadvantages/ or, Top Pros and Cons of LEED Certification, at http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/design-architecture/top-pros-and-cons-of-leed/5879


Chauncey Gardens
      
     
     Chauncey Gardens (18 stories) and The Chauncey (16 or 20 stories) are more architecturally attractive and better meet the overall criteria established by the City; this is especially true of The Chauncey, which would expand downtown entertainment venues with a 12-lane bowling alley and two theaters managed by FilmScene. In addition, there is a cafe,art gallery and 35-room hotel. Chauncey Gardens mentions an "unspecified theater" in its proposal and has New Pioneer at ground level.  The height of both these proposals is of concern to some residents and the Council asked that shadow studies be done, but will that make a difference? They already agreed to put an incongruously tall building next to the Black Hawk mini-park, so any genuine concern is dubious; this area is not necessarily the start of any 'transition zone', which could just as logically be one block east to Van Buren Street.

     All of the proposals include a financial subsidy from the City, much of it TIF; TIF can take various forms including money up front, which would certainly be the least acceptable.


Carol deProsse 

*Freedom of Information Act

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

New Pioneer Has Better Options than College/Gilbert


Proposed New Pioneer Co-op Relocation is Financially Risky




A rosy outlook in life and an optimistic attitude about the future are nice, but not useful when grounded in unreality, something Republicans learned in the recent election.



       
        I believe a majority of the New Pioneer board is wearing rose-colored glasses when it comes to its proposed relocation of New Pi to the corner of College and Gilbert Streets. 

     For tax year 2011 the downtown New Pi paid $24,948 in property tax; a new store with a $5 million assessed valuation would pay at least seven times that. (Tax levy on 100% of commercial valuation is $40.74369/$1,000.)

       In the first quarter of FY'13 labor costs for both stores for 135 full and 59 part time employees was $1,438,150*, which projects to an estimated $5,872,600 in yearly labor costs. The potential 40 new employees, to which the General Manager referred in his presentation to the City on December 4, would add more than a million dollars to the operating costs.
    
       New Pi currently carries no mortgage on the downtown store. A $4 million mortgage on any new store, carrying an interest rate of 3% (likely higher) for 15 years would add $163,115 per annum to operating costs. 
       If New Pi becomes a member of a condominium association there likely would be a substantial annual fee paid to the association.
     In FY 2011 less than nine percent of the Co-op’s approximately 26,000 members were responsible for 57% of total sales at both stores. This means that approximately 2,340 members conducted a majority of all transactions. Less than a third of the membership qualified for the patronage dividend paid to those spending more than $500 during that year. 

       It is indisputable that the planned relocation would cause a large increase in New Pi's operating costs. It is reasonable to conclude that it would be difficult to generate the amount of sales needed to cover this large increase, especially considering that New Pi is an expensive place to grocery shop (and food costs are projected to rise considerably in  coming years) and that a very small percentage of total members do a majority of the transactions.

       The GM stated that the proposed location would attract 250,000 additional people downtown, a per day average of 685. Where will they park and where would they come from? Would those who currently shop at the Coralville store come to the new store on a regular basis and why? If they did, would that not negatively impact the sales in Coralville?

       The impact on The Bread Garden cannot be as lightly dismissed as the GM stated at the December 4 Council meeting.  If the Bread Garden -- which is believed to be sensitive to any pressure that would detract from its customer base -- went under, the assessed valuation of Plaza Towers would decrease and so would the amount of taxes the City collects on this property. (Plaza Towers was a TIF recipient.) 

        Many members recall the near collapse of New Pi due to the rose colored glasses of a previous board. If New Pi also fails, the downtown would be without a grocery store, a significant loss to the many who now live and will live downtown; and there would be two very large spaces of ground floor commercial property standing empty. (The size of the proposed new store is roughed out at about 20,000 square feet.)
   
       The current New Pi board majority -- six of seven -- who want to relocate the store include a retired adjunct professor from the School of Business Administration and a Carlson-KPMG Research of Accounting Professor from the same school. The 1999 New Pi board, which voted to proceed with the Coralville store, included an Entrepreneur of the Year and a full professor in the College of Business. This move, based on a majority faith that we could afford a second store that would be wildly successful, nearly brought the Co-op to bankruptcy. It was a long haul for the Cooperative to return to the sound financial position it is in today; along the road to recovery there were staff reductions, no bonuses, no raises, no patronage dividends, no senior discounts, and no community donations. 
         
       I hope any member of the Council who may be giving consideration to any one of the four proposals that has New Pi on the ground floor will seriously consider the potential of Iowa City New Pi failing should it be relocated to the Gilbert/College site. No one would want to see the bottom floor of whatever is built there empty in five or six years, with only office space and apartments/condominiums above it.
        
       I believe the City and New Pi have a shared interest, one that would be served by the City negotiating a land exchange with the Co-op, trading City land east of the Unitarian Church for the Van Buren Street NPC property. New Pi would have space to build a LEED certified larger store that could continue to serve the vital 'quick in, quick out' shoppers who come by car as well as those that come by foot or bicycle. In exchange the City would get land to build a permeable paver parking lot for employees and visitors to the Civic Center. 
City        

       For something visionary, how about this idea recently sent to a friend of mind: Iowa City builds a year-round food market like the recently opened NewBo City Market in Cedar Rapids, with New Pi as the anchor. There could be food trucks/carts with outdoor seating, and a covered, but open-air pavilion for an expanded, pleasanter Farmers Market. Something like this would create a true local foods destination. An appropriate location might be in the yet developed Riverfront Crossings area. The City would be foolish not to be a willing and supportive partner in such an endeavor, as such a project would help to drive the future residential and retail growth the City hopes to see in that part of town. 

       While the citizenry is generally fed up with TIFs, a TIF to enable an option of public good is a lot different than one that simply allows a business to get a 20 year tax break.  It's a very good thing that the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center is downtown. It's on prime development land and it doesn't generate a penny of property tax. Citizens today would very likely support public funding to build it if it weren't there already.

       TIF bonds to support bowling alleys, theaters, and an art gallery would be public money spent to enable a public good: expanded recreational and educational opportunities downtown.  For this reason, the Moen proposal's TIF request is far more acceptable than the requests by the other developers to help them build for-profit commercial space from which the ordinary citizen will not see any benefit for at least 20 years when the TIFs expire. If the Council has concern about the height of The Chauncey that point should be negotiated with the developers.

*Information provided by Matt Hartz, New Pi General Manager.

 Carol deProsse
New Pioneer Member
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'The belief that one's own view of reality is the only reality is the most dangerous of all delusions."
                                                                                                                            -- Paul Watzlawick

Monday, December 3, 2012

Taft Levee


 
Council Makes Right Choice about Taft Levee

Let’s hope the Council's 5-2 vote to not build a gigantic earthen levee around the Idyllwild neighborhood and Park View Church will put an end to this controversial issue. Years ago we, along with many others, were opposed to this development in the flood plain. Of course in those days the decision makers were thinking only of work for developers and tax returns for the city and gave approval to this foolish plan.

With the present drought it is hard to imagine this area flooding again, but it will. And those that chose to live in the flood plain -- and rebuild or refurbish after a flood -- will have to bear whatever consequences befall them.  It's a tough life out there in the world of climate and this time a majority of the City Council did, as Councilor Payne stated, "use logic" instead of emotion by voting down the levee.

We love the water, we love being on the river and we understand those who want to live by the water; and the original occupants did and do. Smart construction for riverbank lovers does not include wall-to-wall carpet, basements, expensive appliances and areas that cannot stand       flooding without being destroyed.

Permanent structures of any kind in close proximity to a river are risky because rivers meander.

Future plans for New Pioneer’s relocation away from the creek might best be served by talking with the city about the possibility of acquiring a portion of city land east of the Unitarian Church and making part of the exchange the conveyance to the city of New Pioneer’s current site. Given the likelihood that any development on the corner of Gilbert and College will result in reduction of monthly permits, some of which are used by city employees, the city could raze the old New Pi and use the area for employee parking.

Carol deProsse
Caroline Dieterle

Saturday, December 1, 2012

And the Winner Is . . .

The Chauncey
 
The best choice for the redevelopment of the old Wilson's Sporting Goods/Greyhound Bus Depot site is The Chauncey, a planned 20-story structure with a 150 seat theater managed by FilmScene; two six lane bowling alleys; a cafe; an art and sculpture gallery; a 35 room hotel; Class A office space and workforce housing units.  It makes sense financially, culturally and aesthetically.

The plan incorporates LEED certification, geothermal and solar power, and permeable pavers; and it would be a 100% local project – a big plus – led by Marc Moen who is known for his commitment to developing only in downtown Iowa City; and Moen has his private funding sources firmly committed.

There are two drawbacks to this exciting proposal: the planned use of Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) and the proposed height of 20 stories.  At the public meeting Moen stated that this development could be built at 16 stories, which would be more in keeping with the general height limits already in place.  Since we heard in a previous presentation by Moen that he needed TIF ($2 million) to put the top two stories on the Wells Fargo site building, it seems reasonable to posit that taking four stories off the Chauncy making it 16 stories instead of 20 would eliminate the need for TIF support for this project.

The Chauncey is clearly a project that would bring an exciting diversification of entertainment opportunities to downtown and without reliance on TIF would start returning 100% of tax dollars to the city, avoiding the strong citizens' objection regarding the use of TIF for private development that does not create affordable housing or other direct benefit to low and moderate wage earners in Iowa City and Johnson County.

Downtown Iowa City has a fine public library, the lovely Englert, unique stores, decent restaurants, banks, grocery stores, and just enough bars now to make the area attractive for many people. Developing the College/Gilbert Streets site with the attributes noted above would round out this area quite nicely. I think more people who come downtown are interested in going bowling or to the movies than in going grocery shopping.

Carol deProsse




Addendum:

One thing that could be done to make The Chauncy really top notch, would be to design a theater that had some old-fashioned atmosphere. It wouldn't have to be as elaborate as The Paramount in Cedar Rapids, but a little classic theater wall design, lighting, and a bit of velvet here and there with maybe a swag or two and a curtain that opened to reveal the screen would fit with the desire to collaborate with the University of Iowa and Film Scene. -- CP