Ben Lanka has been a local government reporter at The Journal Gazette since 2004 and has covered city government exclusively since April 2006. He received his education at the University of Dayton and Northwestern University. Ben has attended dozens of meetings related to the Harrison Square project and is the primary reporter on the subject for The Journal Gazette. Feel free to comment on the postings here that relate to all aspects of the $125 million public-private proposal.
Mayor Tom Henry and developers of The Harrison condominium building will provide an update on the project Tuesday morning. It is expected to include a tour of the mock condominium that will be used to help sell the units to potential residents of the complex. I’ll be providing more coverage on the event in Wednesday’s paper.
The delayed opening of the Courtyard by Marriott got a bit of an explanation at Monday’s Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission meeting. The hotel was originally to open in fall 2009, but now is expected to be complete by March 2010.
Greg Leatherman, redevelopment executive director, said the delay was mostly caused by a two month wait to complete plans for the connecting walkway between the hotel and Embassy Theatre. That delay meant the hotel would open in the winter, which didn’t make business sense for the company, as that is their slowest time, Leatherman said. Therefore, it will open the following spring, which is permitted in the hotel developer’s contract with the city.
Leatherman said the good news is a meeting with the hotel developers last week relieved any concerns about the project, as its designs are being integrated into the greater project.
People looking to move downtown to The Harrison condominiums should soon have the ability to touch what an actual unit feels like. Jim Irwin, project manager with Barry Real Estate, said a mock condominium should be ready for viewing next week at Martin Goldstine Knapke, the company selling the condos.
He said the company hasn’t really ratcheted up its sales pitch for the units, mostly because the mock condo isn’t open.
“If you were buying a condominium, you would want to see cabinet tops and everything,” he said.
The company got several people to put a refundable $1,000 deposit on the units, but the tougher challenge will be to convert those into sales.
The Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission will open the final 11 bids for the downtown stadium project this week. The bids are for an estimated $7 million worth of work, and city officials hope to get competitive prices after the recent high-priced electrical contract.
The bids will be opened 3 p.m. Wednesday in the City Council chambers, rooms 126 and 128 of the City County Building. The chamber is being used because of an expected high turnout from the large number of bids.
The contract bids to be opened are:
Masonry
Miscellaneous metals and handrails
General building construction
Roofing and sheet metal
Glass and glazing
Metal studs and drywall
Flooring
Painting
Fire protection
Playing field
Fences and gates
While the city’s redevelopment commission approved three stadium contracts unanimously, there was some discussion on the fairness of approving contracts that would be substantially changed.
The three contracts approved by the commission were done so with the understanding large changes would be made on each to reduce costs.
Newly appointed member Thom Obergfell asked if there is a point that a contract is changed so much that it would be more appropriate to re-bid the work. Commission attorney John Wernet said there is no legal guideline for re-bidding a contract where costs have been reduced, but he added re-bidding projects rarely reduces costs and often increases them.
Greg Leatherman, executive director of redevelopment, said to re-bid the contracts could also delay the work as the process can take up to 90 days. He said copper prices continue to rise, and that is a major part of the electrical contract, which was the one most over budget.
The Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission will meet this week to discuss the latest bids for the downtown baseball stadium.
The commission meets at 4:30 p.m. Thursday to discuss last week’s elevator, electrical and plumbing, mechanical and sheet metal bids. While the board is likely to approve the elevator and plumbing bids, it might reject the bids for the electrical work, which were more than $1 million more than the city’s estimates.
Greg Leatherman, executive director of redevelopment, said staff is still evaluating the electrical bid to determine whether to re-list the project for bids. L.A. Electric, of Fort Wayne, was the lowest bidder, but its $3.2 million price was $1.2 million more than the city’s estimate.
Leatherman said the city has identified about $500,000 in potential cuts from the bid to make it more palatable. Here are the bids received by the city.
Electrical Bids:
Gaylor Electric, Carmel: $4.17 million
Engineered Systems Inc., Fort Wayne: $3.47 million
Morehead Electric, Marion: $3.45 million
L.A. Electric, Fort Wayne: $3.23 million
City of Fort Wayne estimate: $2.04 million
Last night’s council vote to abate taxes for The Harrison condominium/retail building had its share of debate. Some residents criticized the council for giving tax breaks to people who can afford wealthy condominiums, and Councilman Mitch Harper, R-4th, voted against the abatement because of concerns of what the Indiana General Assembly will do to local government budgets.
In general, tax abatements allow businesses to ease into their tax burden, thus forcing everyone else to pick up their share of unpaid taxes for schools, police, etc. But what wasn’t mentioned in this case was the abatement only kept more money from going to the project itself.
Because all the new property taxes generated by Harrison Square are being recycled to finance the public portion of the project. Abating those taxes only keeps the money from going to finance the ballpark or parking garage. Simply put, the tax money for The Harrison wasn’t going to pay for police protection or school teachers anyway.
Greg Leatherman, executive director of redevelopment, said the city projected it wouldn’t have the full taxes from the condo project when calculating the money needed to repay its debt. Of course, had the abatement not been given, the debt could have been paid down quicker, providing more money for other projects.
The abatement will save the project about $850,000 over 10 years, using current tax rates.
While most of the attention Tuesday night focused on a proposed tax abatement for the $20.3 million condominium/retail project, the council also took final action on another important bill for Harrison Square.
The council unanimously approved paying $13,250 to lease 2.65 acres immediately east of Fairfield Avenue and south of Baker Street from Norfolk Southern Railway property. The land, which is south of the railroad overpass, will be used as an area to place equipment, materials and vehicles next to the Harrison Square construction site.
While all of the council members supported the lease, a few last week questioned whether the land could be purchased for future development. Greg Leatherman, executive director of redevelopment, said the railroad was willing to discuss leasing the area, but they were less inclined to talk about selling the site. The land was leased to the city’s redevelopment commission.
While residents got a chance to check out some of the project’s amenities last week, several important financial pieces are scheduled for this week.
The City Council Tuesday will hold a public hearing regarding the tax abatement for The Harrison condominium project. If granted – which could be done Tuesday – the tax break would save the project $850,000 over 10 years at current rates. Greg Leatherman, executive director of redevelopment, said the question of whether those abatements transfer to the people who purchase the condos is still unresolved.
“We have to have that answered before we go before council,” he said.
The hearing is 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in room 128 of the City County Building.
The Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission Thursday also accepts bids for electrical, plumbing and mechanical work for the stadium. City officials hope the run of low bids continues for these three large contracts.
Fans and critics will get a chance to see the latest updates for the Harrison Square projects this week. The hotel and condominium developers will show off a digital fly through of the entire complex. There will also be time for people to ask questions.
The free event will be 6 p.m. Thursday at Grand Wayne Center, room Jefferson A. I’ll have a more detailed preview in Thursday’s paper after a Wednesday afternoon press event.
Copyright 2007 -- The Journal Gazette
