The Community and Economic Development Committee met 07/12/2023. There were two action items on the agenda both of which were associated with each other and pertained to the purchase of land in the Southpoint Commerce Park.
F Street Development, a company that has purchased other land in Southpoint Commerce Park, wanted to amend their offer to purchase some of the lots in the commerce park. F Street had an agreement to purchase roughly 30 acres in the commerce park. They had a build-to-suit project that would use roughly 16 of those acres. As a result, they wanted to close on those 16 acres at the previously agreed upon price of $38,000 per acre.
Additionally, they wanted to submit a new offer to purchase the remaining 14 acres, so that they could retain control over that land. The previously agreed upon price was $38,000 per acre at a time when the city’s initial asking price had been $41,000 per acre. Since that time, the city’s asking price for land in Southpoint Commerce Park had increased to $43,000 per acre, so the new offer to purchase agreement included a payment of $41,000 per acre, still retaining the $2,000 per acre discount, but bringing the price closer to the city’s current asking price for land in Southpoint Commerce Park.
The committee unanimously approved both items.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.
Both of these items involved critical timing. Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6), the chairperson of the committee, noted that since both of the items involved negotiations for the sale of land, the city had the option to go into closed session if there were any disagreements or the need for discussion; however, that did not end up being an issue.
Economic Development Specialist Matt Rehbein explained to the committee that the city had an accepted offer from F Street on 30 acres in Southpoint Commerce Park. That offer had been accepted in October of 2021 and had been amended 5 times since then, primarily to extend the closing date and keep it under contract. F Street now had an agreement for a build-to-suit project which would utilize roughly 16 of those 30 acres, so they wanted to close on those 16 acres and then extend a new offer to purchase for the remaining 14 in order to keep it under contract. The 16 acres would be sold at the price of $38,000 per acre as originally agreed upon in 2021. The new price for the remaining 14 acres would increase to $41,000 per acre.
Mr. Rehbein told the committee that F Street owned multiple parcels in the commerce park, but they often used different LLCs for each individual parcel. All of those LLCs were controlled by F Street, so technically F Street was the owner of all the parcels.
Alderperson Israel Del Toro (District 4) asked if Fe Street would be the owner of the entirety of the commerce park, to which Mr. Rehbein responded, “No.” They were just purchasing now and making an offer to purchase the area bounded by Vantage, Eisenhower, Milis, and Alliance drives.
The committee voted unanimously to approve both items.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1105921&GUID=DC47A117-9D78-4F2C-9BB5-D95AD7866D77
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