What's Going Down(town)

Question: Should North River Be Pursued?

Yes – 30 votes
No – 5 votes

What happens with the North River site seems to be up in the air at this point. Dave MacDonald pointed out the following article on his blog:

North River option won’t be extended
Talks between Rifkin family, city will continue
Link (GFWBW)

“With its purchase option expiring at the end of June, city of Fort Wayne officials have no agreement to buy the North River property and are not discussing an extension.

Fort Wayne Community Development Director John Urbahns said June 24 there are no plans to extend the option a second time.

“Whether June 30 comes or goes with no action, we will continue to negotiate with the owners,” he said. “Obviously, we’re still very interested in it. It’s just a matter of trying to work through an agreement.””

[...]

“The extension that is about to run out was a verbal agreement, Urbahns said. He said the fate of the money the city paid for the option has not been discussed.

The option had value because of what the city was able to do with the property during the last 18 months, Urbahns said.

“It’s been valuable to have time to look at the property, do an environmental assessment on the property,” he said.

If there is no renewal of the option or the owners decide to move in another direction, Urbahns said the city still has a role to play in the development of the property.

“Even if it’s a totally private development, we’d like a role for the city to play in how it develops,” Urbahns said. “We want to be involved.””

Also:

No deal, but city still wants river site
Link (JG)

“Fort Wayne’s option to buy 29 acres north of the St. Marys River expired today without a deal, yet city officials insist negotiations will continue.

The city spent $25,000 for an 18-month option – it was extended from 12 months – to buy the land near OmniSource for $4.3 million, but the option lasted only through Monday.”

[...]

“Mayor Tom Henry said both sides moved as quickly as they could to reach a deal, but things happened during negotiations that caused delays – one being the transition from former Mayor Graham Richard to Henry.

Urbahns said the first year was mostly spent by the city determining whether it should move ahead with the purchase. The city hired a consultant and conducted a number of community meetings last year to determine how to best use the land along the river. The group’s top recommendation in August 2007 was to buy the site.

Henry said he wasn’t concerned about another buyer taking the land with the option expiring, although Urbahns said it is the city’s ultimate goal to have a private developer buy the land. Urbahns said the property is too important for the city to ever simply drop all attempts at development.”