From: Connolly, Amy Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2016 11:37 AM To: Weidner, Sandy Cc: Friedel, Thomas Subject: Knowles-Nelson
Alder Weidner - Apologies for not getting this to you yesterday. We're moving to Racine this week and I'm out of the office most of the week. I also received your phone call and will either call or email today after I speak with staff. Regarding Knowles-Nelson questions: ·
The Knowles-Nelson Grant program is for property acquisition. The grant provides up to 50% of the total cost of property acquisition for land that will become used by the public and requires a 50% local match.
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The City’s application to K-N was for the acquisition of Machinery Row Promenade (Riverwalk) lands. The promenade lands total 5.57 acres with 2,650+ feet of direct access river frontage. Below are the most recent plans that were presented to the Plan Commission this spring as part of the Flex Development approval. The light blue areas on the drawing below are the “Knowles-Nelson” lands to be purchased. These properties were appraised to have a market value of $937,000 plus $4,500 in eligible expenses (appraisals and closing costs) for a total property acquisition cost of $941,500.
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The K-N grant received by the City was for 50% of the total cost of property acquisition or $470,750 ($468,500 for land + $2,250 for appraisal).
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For the required 50% local match, FDP agreed to donate all the “Knowles-Nelson” land to the City and, in return, would receive 50% of the appraised value ($468,500) of that land to go toward the Machinery Row project. The balance ($2,250 in IG funds) is part of our 2016 capital budget.
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The City is not providing the developer any of the K-N grant money directly. We always anticipated that the grant would become a part of the monies the developer could use for the project. We have always maintained that the K-N money should stay in the project.
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We propose that in order to maintain the historic tax credits and give us time to negotiate to bring on another developer, we would like to pay for the demolition that was completed in the Spring for the areas that are on the Machinery Row promenade lands and we would like to pay the taxes on the property. As we said before, none of the K-N grant proceeds are going directly to the developer.