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1. MDS
   Member

   As discussions continue this year about how to improve the CBD, let's all keep in mind the difference between attracting "development" and bringing in "businesses."

   The Village Center is a "development." The four commercial slots on the ground floor, three of which have not been rented, are where "businesses" should be going.

   The Arcade redevelopment is a "development." The Chew Chew was a "business." Grumpy's is a "business," at least for the time being (and I hope it continues to be).

   The point here is that saying you are going to foster "development" is not the same as attracting new "business" to the village. Most of the time, new development means higher rents for businesses.

   How about instead of incentives for developers, we look at incentives for businesses? Rather than rely on developers to pass through part of the costs savings they get from village incentives (dicey proposition), we help businesses directly? Give them some breaks on taxes or subsidize their rent or something like that. The developers could still charge their full rents, but businesses would be able to more easily afford them. Surely there are programs available for businesses, not just developers.

   Posted Wednesday Jul 11, 2007 14:45 #

2. Catherine
   Member

   Yes, MDS, I was making precisely this distinction on the Chew-Chew thread. We have often heard the LaGrange attracted the frame shop with some incentive. What was it?

   Still, is it rocket science to price rents to market, or to fix ceilings for tenants?

   Posted Wednesday Jul 11, 2007 15:37 #

3. spatny
   Member

   In the case of the Arcade the rents will climb despite the fact that the money spent on the "restoration" is going to be reimbursed by the taxpayers who have to make up the loss in tax revenue to the Village. Wexford will have the best of both worlds if someone does step up and sign a lease for the space. So in effect we will be subsidizing the wrong party - the developer who can peddle the building with the tax incentive to run for twelve years, and not the business that will be here as part of the community. Another great move by our exalted leaders.

   Posted Friday Jul 13, 2007 18:34 #

4. Catherine
   Member

   In my opinion, Class L status was the right thing to do. The first necessity was to save the building and restore it. This action also removed it from the TIF area.

   Now it is for citizens and the government to pressure them as to the rents, if they persist in being unwilling to be disciplined by the market. Owners of buildings such as these can, as I understand it, take tax deductions for unoccupied office and retail space and this disincentivizes them from offering reasonable rents. A former business owner there told me that this is precisely what s/he was told when presented by the former owner with what s/he considered an extortionate rent increase.

   Posted Monday Jul 16, 2007 13:29 #

5. spatny
   Member

   Catherine - my problem is that the building exterior is not really getting a restoration back to how it was originally - far from it. The developer was allowed to pick a period he was comfortable with so we will probably get a "massaged" fifties period exterior without the cupola tower, with the stucco, etc. His estimated budget for the "restoration" will be fully covered by the projected tax reductions over twlve years, and I don't think space could be sold as a business condo - so rents will be very high when factored against traffic counts. Vehicle traffic does not equate to customers as it is artificial because of the number of people that must cross through town to get over the tracks. Now what we have is a loss of sales tax revenue and property tax with who knows what level of satisfaction fom the finshed project. I was going to produce the Wright in Riverside brochure even if I had to pay for it myself but now I don't really know how to pitch it and what to put on the map. Perhaps Grumpy's days are numbered - who knows. We need to fall back and rethink how we can bring a couple restaurant/food places into town when rents will be higher than before.

   Posted Monday Jul 16, 2007 16:11 #

6. Catherine
   Member

   Well, Spatny, I do know the restoration has to meet the standards of the US Department of the Interior in order to get the breaks, and I understand they are pretty stringent. I also know Preservation has been giving them hell over getting the right windows in the uppermost area. I thought I saw Aberdeen is on that committee now. It was she who advocated for the status, so I am sure she will be watching the matter closely.

   Well, those owners will be sucking wind if they think they are going to get those prices. I hear Kafka's rents are cheap and he can't get or keep anybody either. The owners still have to pay their real estate taxes, and that's where the real money to the town comes in, not sales tax.

   Posted Wednesday Jul 18, 2007 12:50 #

7. BigYellowTaxi
   Member

   *************RE: ARCADE BUILDING STAINED GLASS WINDOWS*************

   Did Spatny make the correct call in the above post stating...
   "my problem is that the building exterior is not really getting a restoration back to how it was originally - far from it. The developer was allowed to pick a period he was comfortable with so we will probably get a "massaged" fifties period exterior without the cupola tower, with the stucco, etc."???

   WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS THIRD HAND INFO... I hope it is false but if not, we may need to rally for the cause of the Arcade's leaded glass windows... Someone told me a few days ago that it was reported to her that someone who was babysitting in the condos just east of the Arcade building had seen workers put stained glass windows into the construction dumpster there. Had I been privy to this info when it occured I would gladly have gone dumpster diving but I believe this may have occured a month or two ago. FYI, presently you can peek into the old Chew Chew from the north side patio windows and see nothing but plywood and 2x4s from the back side of the window space. There are still stained glass windows on Grumpy's side, as Dave's space has yet to be "restored".

   Spatny, do you or anybody else know if they're going to (or allowed to) do away with the stained glass??? I sure hope not. I hope the above third hand info is wrong.

   Posted Wednesday Jan 16, 2008 21:34 #

8. spatny
   Member

   I am just looking at what is going on. They are going to "patch" the stucco, not remove it. The canopy is going o be removed, I was told. The entrance to the restaurant space (old Chew Chew) is going to be moved up in front of the doors to the arcade itself, which will be locked, I was told. The interior arcade space will be accessible only to the tenants upstairs, so I don't understand where the rest rooms will be that the restaurant space uses. The add on space on the east, where the dry cleaner was located, is evidently to be part of this "restoration." I don't know what the plans are for marketing it other than the EDC is offering to do an Open House and send letters to people they think might want to rent office space.

   My opinion is that this space will be marginal at best - no parking having been provided. It will certainly cost more than it did before, perhaps as much as the VC, so who do they think is going to open a restaurant in that kind of space at that kind of money? I hope somebody does, and we had some guys here in town that are inthat business that were supposedly interested, but you know, there comes a point where the fixed costs become too high for the operator to make any money, and nobody wants to invest a bundle to buy themselves a job with a dim future. Restaurants have a voracious appetite for money - overhead is relentless, and the public is fickle. I am not optimistic about either of these sites being successful, especially in the present economic climate. Likewise, I think the people that may have plunked down $10K or so on a condo in the VC are having second thoughts about what they want to pay for the privelege of living there. Certainly, the air is out of the "flipper" market.

   Posted Friday Jan 18, 2008 22:58 #

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