New Zoning, New Development And The Old Move Idea
Planners approve mixed-use rezoning
Link (JG)
“Fort Wayne Plan Commission members voted Monday to rezone more than 600 downtown properties stretching from the St. Marys River to Baker Street. The City Council will make the final decision about designating these areas either central downtown districts or downtown edge districts.
Central downtown districts are designed to encourage a dense mixture of homes and shops, said Sherese Fortriede, a city planner. Downtown edge districts also combine residential and commercial uses, but those districts offer more neighborhood shopping centers. The edge districts would offer a transition between downtown and nearby residential neighborhoods, such as East Central and West Central, she said.
Downtown zoning districts have fewer off-street parking requirements. In these districts, buildings can be constructed along the street instead of being set back. The reduced restrictions encourage development, plan commission member Don Schmidt said.”
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“Creating these downtown zoning districts should fuel development to complement Harrison Square, said City Council President Tom Smith, R-1st, who also is on the plan commission. He said the Harrison Square downtown revitalization project has created a new focus for downtown development, and the zoning districts fit into that vision.”
Project on Superior clears hurdle
Multimillion-dollar development in downtown gets past parking snag
Link (JG)
“A tentative agreement has been reached for a proposed multimillion-dollar mixed-use development on Superior Street.
Greg Leatherman, director of redevelopment, said he was able to strike a deal with Hartland Development regarding the land needed for parking on Superior Street for the proposed project. The project would be located west of Club Soda restaurant and south of Headwaters Park.
The local developer had requested the entire parking lot at the northeast corner of Clinton and Superior streets, but concerns were raised by Headwaters Park officials and others that they needed parking to ensure their own viability. The new deal addresses those concerns, Leatherman said.
Under the agreement, the redevelopment commission would sell only the amount of land needed for the actual building – 8,000 square feet. The city would then provide an easement to allow the developer the necessary parking to get proper zoning for the project or to make it economically successful, Leatherman said.”
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“The proposal is expected to include a four-story building, including ground level retail and upper levels of housing, most likely loft apartments, Leatherman said. It should be about a $4 million investment and include at least 18 housing units.
In December, the group said it secured a $900,000 community revitalization tax credit from the state but had not finalized the project’s financing.
Leatherman hopes to publicly announce the availability of the land quickly, which would begin a 30-day period where companies could bid for the land.”
City again eyes move out of City-County Building
County officials irked by delay in addressing space needs
Link (NS)
“When city and county officials were unable to reach an agreement by Sept. 30 on a plan that would have consolidated police operations in the City-County Building and other government functions in the Renaissance Square building a few blocks away, it appeared the two governments would continue to share the City-County Building indefinitely. But with the city’s $1.2 million-a-year lease scheduled to expire in 2010, officials are again considering moving into the Renaissance building at 202 E. Berry St. – a move first proposed by then-Mayor Graham in 2004.
Purcell said an appraisal completed this month set the Renaissance building’s value at $7 million – a figure not so high that it prevents the city from exploring the idea further.”
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“The four-story Renaissance building, which includes more than 200,000 square feet, was built in the early 1960s as the Wolf & Dessauer Department Store. The county assessed the building at $6.2 million in 2003, generating $131,512 in annual property taxes. But the now-empty building is assessed at about $1.15 million, generating about $31,500 in annual taxes. If the city buys the property, it would generate no taxes.
If that building doesn’t work out, Purcell said, it’s possible police operations could be transferred to the Public Safety Academy at Southtown Centre, site of Henry’s State of the City address last week. But Purcell said the city still hopes to increase utilization of the facility.”
Looks like there are enough Richard holdovers to continue the effort to reward Grahams big supporters with taxpayer dollars.
I realize that even under the “new” crieria for determining assessed property values there is no perfect association between assessed values and market values. But it is supposed to be close, or at least a rational relationship. But not even one eyebrow raises over the prospect of paying 7 million for a property with an assessed value of 1.15 million? Any of you out there getting offers of 7 times assessed value for your property?
The “new” appraisal that looks so good to Mr. Purcell is the same figure as the appraisal from last summer, when the last publicly funded study also found it would take an additional 7 to 10 million to make the place habitable for City uses. Good to know that the intervening economic collapse, real estate decline and credit crisis hasn’t affected the value of empty, decaying, on-the-market-for-ten-years-without-a-nibble commercial property located in the midst of a glut of empty office space.
But paying 2 or 3 times market value should be an easy sell in Fort wayne. The property has “renaissance” in its name, so you know its primed to be a catalyst. Move in the cops and something else and it’s “mixed use.” Mixed use is hot, hot, hot! And of course, we will do it to create a vibrant urban setting for young professionals, in contrast to the inevitable nay-sayers who hate young professionals.
PT Barnum might have upped his estimate if he’d lived in Fort Wayne.