The Community and Economic Development Committee met 05/26/2021. It was a very short meeting, only 8 minutes long, but there was some interesting information on a couple of projects. Both items were critical timing.
The first item they took up was the “request to approve the Offer to Purchase from Bose 1 Investments, LLC and 4 Ross Investments, LLC, and/or its assigns, to purchase Lot 1 of CSM 3609 (Tax Id #31-9-5712-00), Lot 26 (Tax Id #31-9-5712-26), Lot 27 (Tax Id #31-9-5712-27), Lot 28 (Tax Id #31-9-5712-28) and Lot 29 (Tax Id #31-9-5712-29) Southpoint Commerce Park Plat No. 3, comprising a total of approximately 30.44 acres, at a purchase price of $1,217,600.00 ($40,000 per acre)”
A city staff member explained that the city received an offer from Bose 1 Investments to purchase the roughly 30 acres in Southpoint bounded by Vantage, Eisenhower, Millis, and Alliance Drives. Bose 1 is an investor that is planning to put up a minimum 250,000 square foot building which they anticipate expanding over the next few years to 450,000 square feet or more. They have not been able to disclose who the tenant is yet, but the city did know that the use would be within the deed restrictions and covenants and would be fitting of M-1 zoning. The building will have an office component in addition to some type of light manufacturing or assembly use. Bose 1 was looking to occupy it as soon as summer of 2022, which accounts for the critical timing. Assuming Appleton accepts the offer and everything continues as planned Bose 1 hoped to close by Sept. 30.
Bose 1 made a full price offer and is asking for an 8% commission to be paid to the procuring broker which is standard and the city has done that in the past.
Alderperson Matt Reed (District 8 ) wanted to clarify if the city had utilities run to this.
The city staffer confirmed that they did. They have utilities in the street and that’s included in the purchase price. Bose 1 will have to bring the utilities into the parcel, but the hookups are in the street.
There was a Bose 1 representative in the audience but none of the committee members had any questions for him. The item was approved unanimously.
They then moved on to the “request to approve a six (6) month extension to the Planning Option Agreement with Merge, LLC (d/b/a Merge Urban Development Group) for a potential mixed-use development located on the former Blue Ramp and Conway Hotel sites.”
The city staffer told the committee that they approved the original option to purchase for those two parcels back in March of 2020. As they anticipated under the original agreement, the option was extended once, and they’ve continued to work with Merge. Merce has done their due diligence by conducting a number of interviews and some planning. They’ve started to put together some preliminary site plans although that is not yet available to the public, and the city is working with them on a development agreement but that is not quite ready yet. They’re seeking another 6 months to give them time to finalize the first development agreement and hopefully also the other agreement for the second parcel.
Alderperson Reed asked if they were confident that six months would be sufficient.
The staffer believed so. In fact, he thought that they were close enough that the six months might actually be generous, but they preferred that rather than having to come back fir a third time and ask for a 30 day extension.
Alderperson Reed said he was looking forward to seeing what happens there.
Alderperson Kristin Alfheim (District 11) because she was new to the Council and to ongoing projects, asked what the reason for the delay was and whether it was related to the library.
Director Karen Harkness answered that there wasn’t any delay per se. Merge has been doing their due diligence. They conducted an extensive stakeholder interview with community members and have been working on some preliminary conceptual design work. They also have many other projects going on in other communities and are a small company. They want to take the time to make sure that they’re doing things correctly. She added that the City of Appleton also has three other development agreements that they’re currently working on, so part of the issue has also been the city’s staff capacity to move forward on this project along with the other projects they’re working on.
There were no further questions and that item also was approved unanimously.
View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=859601&GUID=FA3764E9-4B77-47A5-A448-3A2D9F29C1DD&Options=info|&Search=
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