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<br />the new building.) The increase in guaranteed square footage is needed for the developer to close the <br />bank loan prior to the December 31 deadline for issuing the Recovery Zone bonds. The City’s lease <br />guarantee will be reduced as sufficient private lease commitments are achieved. <br /> <br />Recovery Zone Facility Bonds: <br />The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (“ARRA”) permits <br />issuance of the Recovery Zone Facility Bonds. ARRA and Section 147 of the Internal Revenue Code <br />of 1986, as amended require that recovery zone facility bonds be approved by the council after a public <br />hearing. Notice of the hearing was published in the Register-Guard on November 1. A public hearing <br />was held at 11:00 am on November 15, 2010, before a hearings official to receive comments on the <br />proposed issuance by the City of not more than eight million dollars of recovery zone facility bonds to <br />finance an approximately 50,000 square-foot mixed-use building that will be constructed on the former <br />site of the Woolworth building at Broadway and Willamette Streets and will be owned by Woolworth <br />Properties, LLC. No one appeared to testify at the hearing. Resolution 5014 requires that the council <br />give final approval to the sale of bonds for the project prior to the sale of the bonds. The resolution <br />included in Attachment B provides for that final approval. <br /> <br /> <br />RELATED CITY POLICIES <br />Development of the vacant parcel addresses many goals for Eugene and downtown, including activity <br />in the core, employment, and sustainability. This project is supported by the Downtown Plan; Down- <br />town Code Amendments; West Broadway Advisory Committee Recommendations; Central Area <br />Transportation Study; Downtown Vision; City Council’s Downtown Collective Statements from <br />August 2009; Downtown Policing Action Plan Team Short-Term Public Safety Strategy <br />Recommendations 2004; Cultural Policy Review; Mayor’s 2004 Committee on Economic <br />Development; Growth Management Policies; Sustainable Business Initiative; and JEO’s regional <br />economic development principles. <br /> <br />The City’s debt policies set out provisions for the use of conduit financing, which is what BMC/Wool- <br />worth Properties LLC has requested for this project. Under those policies, a project has to meet certain <br />criteria, including that the City not incur any moral or financial obligation from the borrowing, and that <br />the private party requesting the financing pays all of the costs of the borrowing. The project financing <br />will comply with the debt policies related to conduit financings except for the rating or credit <br />enhancement requirement. Because the project will be financed through a bank private placement loan <br />rather than a public bond sale, this policy requirement is not needed. Council waived that part of the <br />policy in Resolution 5014. <br /> <br /> <br />COUNCIL OPTIONS <br /> <br />1.Approve the revised outline of terms included in Attachment A, and approve the resolution <br />authorizing issuance of the bonds included in Attachment B. <br /> <br />2.Do not approve the actions needed to go forward with the BMC/Woolworth Properties LLC <br />redevelopment proposal. <br /> <br /> <br />CITY MANAGER’S RECOMMENDATION <br />The City Manager recommends approval of the revised outline of terms for the redevelopment <br />proposal included in Attachment A and approval of the resolution authorizing issuance of the bonds <br />included in Attachment B. <br /> <br /> Z:\CMO\2010 Council Agendas\M101122\S1011222andattA.doc <br />