The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Peninsular Place contracted to sell
Owner still trying to recapture funds from city
By Dan DuChene, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 1, 2007
The owners of Peninsular Place, an apartment complex located near Eastern Michigan's campus, are negotiating a deal to sell the facility.
Advertisement
Hendricks & Partners, a Birmingham-based realty company, listed the apartment complex on the market last September, said Kevin Larimer, who is a broker handing the deal. Larimer said there is a contract to sell the apartment complex.
"There is a company that is under contract," Larimer said. "The deal is proceeding."
Larimer said the contract includes two other student-oriented apartment complexes, near the University of Kentucky and the University of Toledo. The bid price of the sale was $112,340,000. Larimer would not comment on who is purchasing the property.
Rick Kirk, of Edwards Communities and owner of Peninsular Place, said the listing price is not accurate.
Edwards Communities, a Columbus-based realty company, opened Peninsular Place in the fall of 2005. The complex was built over an old paper mill located on the Huron River on LeForge Road. The process involved deconstructing the mill and the remediation of the contaminated soil.
Kirk said the contract to sell the property is not finalized yet. Although he did not disclose the company interested in purchasing the property, he said it was not affiliated with EMU.
Kirk said, "It is difficult to discuss this briefly."
"This is a pending discussion that has gone on for many months and is extremely complicated, which should preclude me from discussing it at this time," Kirk said. "It is extremely premature to discuss something that has so many complications."
He continued, "A few groups have approached us for over a year, nothing has happened substantively yet. I remain cautious about making any predictions on what will happen with this."
Kirk made a presentation to city council last month, requesting $490,000 from the city to reimburse the company for Brownfield redevelopment costs. Kirk said the money was promised to them in a plan approved by city council in 2004.
"All I want is to get the money that was approved," Kirk said to council. "It seems to me this is a reasonable and fair request."
The city had originally discussed a plan to allow a tax increment financing capture of $1.99 million. The money would be captured from the company's taxes and refunded to repay the redevelopment costs the company spent to remediate soil and deconstruct buildings.
Then in April 2004, the Planning and Development Department worked out a deal with Edwards Communities, where the company would ask the state for nearly $500,000 in tax credit from the Single Business Tax. The total in TIF capture was then lowered to nearly $1.5 million. The company never received any SBT funding.
After the meeting, Kirk said he didn't know why the company didn't receive any SBT funding. He said he didn't know if his company had submitted an application to the state.
"I have considered this project a partnership between our group and the city," Kirk said. "I continue to work hard to make this project a success for us, the owners, and the city."
After his presentation, Kirk was directed to discuss the issue with city staff to develop legislation to go before city council. Ed Koryzno, Ypsilanti city manager, said staff is working to put something in front of council this month. If Kirk's request is approved, the TIF capture on the property would be extended for one year, ending in 2011.
"I think we're obligated to pay them," Mayor Pro-Tem Trudy Swanson, D-1st Ward, said. "This is something we said we would do."
In the Planning and Development Department's request for legislation, one of the recommendations to council read, "This recommendation was made with the caveat that should the state require a higher local TIF commitment, that the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority would support this amendment and would support the whole amount of $1,990,000…"
"We should honor what we agreed to do," Swanson said. "We still have Water Street to develop and we want to keep a good reputation."
Council Member John Gawlas, D-2nd Ward, disagreed with Swanson. He said he was not in favor of extending the TIF capture because it was Edwards Communities' responsibility to secure TIF funding. Additionally, Gawlas said the company should have secured the SBT funding, or requested more TIF funding, before the project was started.
"All of this stuff comes up front, not behind," Gawlas said. "He had to have known this is for your company to deal with."
Aside from Gawlas, other council members say they are against extending the TIF capture. Brian Robb, D-3rd Ward; Brian Filipiak, D-3rd Ward, and Mayor Paul Schrieber have said they would not support Kirk's request.
"I feel the city has been very up front, and hasn't broken any promises," Schrieber said.
Schrieber said he expects a resolution about the issue. However, he said, he will vote against an extension.
"The simple fact is they didn't even pursue [SBT funding] at all," Filipiak said. "Mr. Kirk is simply looking for every last dime he can before he leaves town."
However, the negotiation to sell the complex, Filipiak said, wasn't a part of his decision not to extend the TIF capture.
"Him selling the property really doesn't have any bearing on my decision," Filipiak said.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
TOP JOBS
