NORMAL – In a special session on Tuesday, Feb. 28, Normal Town Council members unanimously approved an economic assistance agreement with Dan O’Brien of Extreme Motors to relocate his Hyundai dealership to the property located at 600 Greenbriar Dr., Normal. Council member Jason Chambers was absent from the meeting.
Under the terms of the agreement, O’Brien receives half of the 1 percent sales tax revenue raised by sales at the site for 48 months. At the most, that would be a maximum of $600,000.
As part of the terms of the agreement between O’Brien and the Town for the relocation, his business will be mandated to stay at the Greenbriar Drive for at least seven years. Failing to do so would require him to pay the Town back any money he received through the agreement.
O’Brien currently owns and operates his business out of one building that sells two car brands, Hyundai and Kia. Part of the reason for O’Brien’s urgency to relocate his businesses was because both Hyundai and Kia were pushing him to separate the two brands into individual stand-alone dealerships. For now, the two brands are sharing space at the Morrissey Dr. location.
Prior to the Council’s vote, Jeff Fritzen said, “I felt that this was an appropriate package to offer,” adding the offer made to O’Brien is similar to offers the Town has made to out-of-town proprietors who want to put a business in Normal. “If we’re willing to do it for people outside the community, we need to do it for people inside the community, it’s appropriate.
“To me, it’s a very honest proposal and it’s performance-based,” Fritzen added. “There’s some accountability there and some incentive to the person receiving the assistance to perform and achieve some success.”
Council member Sonja Reece added, “The incentive money that we are talking about is money that would not be there if it not for the sales that were made. There is an opportunity for the Town of Normal and its citizenry to benefit from this, as well as helping get this particular project off the ground.”
The potential relocation of the dealership from Bloomington to Normal, was an agenda item Normal Council members were to have discussed and potentially voted on at their regularly-scheduled session on Feb. 20, concerned a resolution authorizing approving the economic incentive agreement between the Town and O’Brien.
But no discussion of the item took place at that meeting because Bloomington city officials expressed concerns about Normal’s tax incentive offer. Normal City Manager Mark Peterson said Tuesday that two days after Normal’s Council meeting, on Feb. 22, O’Brien met with Bloomington city officials, including City Manager David Hales, but that the two sides could not work out an agreement. That allowed O’Brien to continue to negotiate with the Town of Normal.
Peterson said he heard from both O’Brien and Hales following the Feb. 22 meeting. “I heard from both Mr. O’Brien and Mr. Hales, and they said it was a good meeting, cordial, but at the end of the day, there was nothing available in Bloomington like the Saturn property that could meet his needs.”
Although he did not speak at the session, Bloomington Alderman Robert Fazzini was in attendance at the meeting.
“This will be good, candidly, for the City of Bloomington and the Town of Normal,” O’Brien said the meeting. He said doing this will allow him to expand his service to both communities.
“I’m really, really pleased,” O’Brien said.
Proposals For Uptown One Development Presented: Four developers, all with their own vision of what sort of facility should go into the plot of land in Uptown Normal known as Uptown One Development made their pitches for the parcel during interviews with the Council following a dinner recess, which followed the earlier special session.
Last September, Council members unanimously agreed to seek proposals for uses for the development at One Normal Circle. In 2007, Champaign-based One Main Development had proposed building a facility that would have a variety of uses including retail, office, and residential uses.
But the site upon which the One Main project was to housed has sat empty with fencing surrounding the hole which had been dug for its foundation since the developers encountered a lack of investor money, caused by the recession which deepened in 2008.
The four developers who presented proposals were: JSM Development; Harlem Irving Properties and Tartan Realty Group, Chicago; One Main Development, Champaign; and Raufeisen Development, Davenport, Iowa.
JSM Development proposed and currently operates the Uptown Crossing complex, 100 S. Fell Ave. Their vision for Uptown One is a four- or five-story mixed use structure with ground floor shopping, potential second floor office space, and apartments on the remaining floors.
Among JSM Development’s terms and conditions are that ownership of the land be transferred from the Town to JSM, and JSM would manage the property; and the Town provide up to 70 spaces available for lease in the parking deck of the currently under construction Uptown Station; and Town investment could be in the form of a discounted up-front investment, annual payments, and tax abatements.
Harlem Irving Properties and Tartan Realty Group is proposing a mixed-use project including 5,900 sq. ft. for a American Bistro Steakhouse, 6,280 sq. ft. for a health spa, and first floor space for a five-story boutique hotel. The five floors above the restaurant would have a mix of 85 one-, two-, and three-bedroom “condo quality” apartments. Harlem Irving Properties and Tartan Realty Group is putting the total estimated cost of the project at $20.5 million, estimating between $3 million-$5 million worth of public investment. The developer would build the project. There would be limited parking in the underground portion of the building, with the rest to be at Uptown Station.
One Main Development proposes a two-phase, six-story development with fronting along Uptown Circle, with first floor retail, second- and third-floor office space, and condominium rentals on the upper floors. Phase one has a proposed project cost of $13.5 million. Developer equity would be $4 million including the cost of the existing foundation and site at $3.3 million, leaving the Town to invest $700,000. One Main Development proposal suggests the Town’s investment may be requested from Tax Increment Funding revenues.
Raufeisen Development proposes a seven-story building consisting of 22,000 sq. ft. ground floor retail with a target tenant mix of sports bar, high end restaurant, health facility, and high end clothing boutique. The structure would have five stories of 85 single, double, and triple room apartments with approximately 148 beds. The seventh floor would be a partial workout facility/”celebration room” with full kitchen, office space, and meeting rooms. The proposed cost given by Raufeisen Development is $24.2 million.
Raufeisen Development’s terms include asking the Town provide the land and existing foundation system, and are seeking an investment by the Town of $4 million which includes the land and improvements. This developer is intent on owning the project but would like a right-to-sell once the project stabilizes. This developer anticipates 20 parking spaces in the basement of the structure, but is requesting access to the parking garage via some type of protected access like a sky bridge.