Updated with a useful plat map and eye-opening additional Dan S. explanatory commentary
The Standard-Examiner reports that SouthRiver LLC remains in the hunt to purchase and develop 6 acres within the Ogden River Project, with a proposed development agreement to be laid on the table for RDA consideration "in the next few weeks":
OGDEN -- A proposed development agreement is being fine-tuned that may enable a Salt Lake City firm to purchase about six acres downtown from the Ogden Redevelopment Agency as part of the long-awaited Ogden River Project.Read the full Scott Schwebke story here:
The RDA is expected to consider the agreement in the next few weeks for the sale of land to SouthRiver LLC, allowing the construction of 69 townhomes and retail space, Jonny Ballard, the city's community development manager, said Monday.
More specifically, according to the council's online Land Use and Planning Project Status Page, the matter will be coming up for RDA discussion and public comment on July 12:
Mr. Schwebke's morning story reports that "[t]he company hopes to begin construction in July," which seems like uncomfortably and possibly unrealistically tight scheduling, unless the RDA Board has already agreed (informally and behind the scenes) to rubber stamp the agreement, prior to any public comment or deliberation.
We'll keep our eyes on this story as it develops, of course.
In the meantime, feel free to throw in your own 2¢.
Update 6/21/11 11:25 a.m. (per Dan S.): Here is a plat map showing Phase 1 of the River Project, annotated with the current assessed property values (taken from the Weber County Treasurer's web site). The three parcels currently proposed for sale to SouthRiver LLC are highlighted in yellow. The RDA sold the blue shaded parcel in late 2006 for $324,975, and this parcel is now the site of the new Bingham's Cyclery building. The area shaded in pink was never owned by the RDA as far as I can tell, even though it is within Phase 1 of the River Project redevelopment area:
(Click Image to Enlarge)On April 27, the Standard-Examiner reported that SouthRiver LLC was "under contract" to purchase the yellow-shaded parcels for $1.3 million. That's a million dollars less than the assessed value of over $2.3 million. Furthermore, the RDA was to subsidize $559,000 of the purchase price through tax increment, so the effective purchase price would be only $741,000 -- less than a third of the assessed value.
The RDA originally purchased and cleared this land using two sources of borrowed funds: a $2 million loan from the city's Refuse Enterprise Fund, consisting of the insurance settlement from the burning of the Shupe-Williams Building; and a $3 million line of credit with First National Bank. According to the minutes of the city council meeting of April 25, 2006, the former loan was to be interest-free for five years, with a 10% interest rate thereafter. According to the most recent RDA Annual Report, the bank loan had a "maturity date" of June 8, 2011.
