Phase one of the Main & Monroe development is aiming for an October completion and while the developer is required to start the second phase by January, there is interest in starting sooner.
Executive Director Bob Landolfi provided the update on the Dornoch II project during his report to commissioners during their monthly Redevelopment Agency meeting on April 3.
Phase one entails the building currently under construction on Main Street, which will include 112 rental apartments and about 2,200 square feet of ground-floor retail. Phase two would begin immediately subsequent to that, Landolfi said. It will be a second, 84-unit building on the corner of Poplar Street, across Monroe Street, which will be extended from Main Street to East Cherry Street as part of the project, along with 2,300 square feet of ground-floor retail.
In the last few weeks, Landolfi said the developer, Vienna, Va.-based Slokker Real Estate Group, has expressed interest in adding some units and also asked the city to consider accelerated payments on Redevelopment Area Bonds (RABs) for the project. The Redevelopment Agency in October amended the financial agreement to allow for use of RABs to fund the Monroe Street extension. City Council followed up with a $500,000 bond ordinance in December for the improvements.
Landolfi said he will recommend that commissioners retain NW Financial Group to conduct a cost-benefit analysis and make a recommendation. Landolfi expected to issue a formal request to commissioners at the Redevelopment Agency’s public meeting on May 1.
As part of the redevelopment agreement, the city is required to fund $1.5 million to $2 million in debt service through Redevelopment Area Bonds (RAB), which are repaid through the development’s Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT). The Main & Monroe project will have an annual payment of almost $360,000 in the first year, with an annual increase of about 3 percent, of a 30-year PILOT.
The developer has asked to consider accelerated payments or increase the minimum payment required on the RAB, which would be issued upon the certificate of occupancy. “They’d like to talk about it,” Landolfi told commissioners.
