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HOLLY, Michigan – They’ve been through it all before, but officials from Urban Resource Alliance were back in Holly on Feb. 22 to present their findings on a study done on Holly’s village hall, this time to Village Council members.
Suzanne Perreault, the village's former director for the Downtown Development Authority, originally initiated the study in October of 2009 after winning a $30,000 50/50 Michigan Economic Development Corporation grant.
Last August, David Schervish, a project director for URA, and colleague Tom Gerdom, a market and restaurant consultant with The Gerdom Management Group presented a summary for the findings of the 83-page adaptive reuse study to board members belonging to Holly’s Downtown Development Authority.
On Tuesday, Schervish, Gerdom and URA architect Tom Roberts repeated the presentation, and brought council members up to speed in terms of the governor’s latest budget proposal, and how it may impact future development of the village offices into a “destination restaurant.”
Should the governor’s proposed cuts to state tax credit program go through, Schervish said half of the proposed financing would no longer exist.
“It’s important to bring this up, and I didn’t bring it up last summer when we presented because it wasn’t the case,” Schervish said. “As the economy is adjusting itself, some of the programs are going to start to go away and some new ones are going to come forward, and we don’t know yet what that menu is going to look like – of financing incentives and so forth, but something will happen.”
Having heard the study’s results for the first time, Village President Jeff Miller asked if URA was aware of any investors willing to bring $2.5 million into Holly to do the project from “top to bottom.”
Schervish said the $2.5 million figure represents construction costs only. “We have soft costs as well – about $1.4 million, and when you add in an acquisition cost of $400,000 according to the old appraisal done in 2006 which we don’t think holds up anymore, you have a total project of $4.3 million,” he said.
Of the $4.3 million, Schervish said tax credits could amount to approximately $1.4 million. “Let’s say all those tax credit programs were still in place – that still leaves the developer equity of $700,000 that has to be brought to the project,” he said. Additionally, Schervish said mortgage loan financing is another $2 million that would have to be brought into the project.
“So basically what we’re saying is the debt financing is about 50 percent and the developer would probably have to come in with a couple hundred thousand in cash plus what the restaurateur would have to come in with.”
While Schervish said he was aware of one individual who is potentially interested in the idea of buying the village offices, not much has occurred since the original presentation in August.
“Our job wasn’t to go any further until there was more approval from the Village Council,” Schervish said. “We’re just kind of testing the water at this point – the real decision comes from you first to determine the course of action.”
“I think it’s something that we will, as a council, deliberate, not necessarily tonight,” Miller said. Miller said his first concern would be what to do with the “staff and stuff” that currently occupies the village hall, should a buyer be found.
“We have right now, nowhere to go unless we find another building and renovate that,” Miller said, adding that building onto the village of Holly Police Department, in his opinion, wasn’t an option, either.
Bittersweet Café owner, John Van Boemel asked whether council might consider creating some sort of “synergy” with the Holly Area Schools administration by perhaps utilizing a vacated building, or possibly using some of the available space at the Karl Richter Campus. “Even if somebody came in and offered you a check for $300,000 to buy it today, would you take it?” he asked. “It’s something to ponder for the next meeting.”
Miller said he was aware of the ongoing discussions within the school district of possibly closing one of its elementary schools. “It won’t do us anything if they decide to close Davisburg, because the village of Holly can’t operate in Davisburg,” he said. “If they closed Holly Elementary or Patterson Elementary, then there could be something done, but we don’t know that.”
As far as relocating to the Karl Richter Campus, Miller had other reasons for resisting the idea.
“With the staff and this and that and me going in and signing checks, a building can be kind of touchy with the village of Holly on one side and some type of special education program on another,” he said. “That wouldn’t be synergy – that would be just plain sin.”
Schervish recommended that council form an exploratory committee to begin looking at other financing incentive programs as they begin to emerge, and to hold a public hearing on how to proceed with the possible sale of the village offices.
Councilwoman Sandra Kleven and Councilman Jason Hughes volunteered to form the exploratory committee for financing programs, and a public hearing was scheduled for the March 22 meeting during which time village residents may share their thoughts on pursuing a developer for the purposes of transforming the village hall into a “destination restaurant.”
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Comments
As for office space, as a former office designer for EDS, I can tell you that the six or seven people who operate out of that building could be housed in a space a minor fraction of the size, and paper files could be stored off-site.
"Councilwoman Sandra Kleven and Councilman Jason Hughes volunteered to form the exploratory committee for financing programs"
i say let the mystery buyer to arrange his own financing program. our council has more important things to do.
The council has no more important job to do than to be good stewards of our tax dollars. Anything that can be done to ease the tax burden on village citizens should be perused with the same enthusiasm as they seem to have over a goose roundup! And any help that the council can give to get that white elephant off our backs and onto the tax rolls should be encouraged.
“With the staff and this and that and me going in and signing checks, a building can be kind of touchy with the village of Holly on one side and some type of special education program on another,”
The second part is very damning. Especially when coupled with the prior statement.
"That wouldn’t be synergy – that would be just plain sin.”
My first question:
What do special needs students have to do with building consolidation?
I can agree that our special needs students are a factor in consolidation and their needs must be met.
I can also make a strong conjecture that Mr. Barnes and the wonderful staff at Karl Richter would take any necessary precautions to minimize risk to our special needs students during the process of consolidation.
I would also expect that very same Karl Richter staff to take full advantage of unique learning opportunities in order to enrich the lives of our special needs students.
President Miller's special needs argument is very intriguing. It isn't a discussion point one would expect to hear first and should never be summarized as 'sin'.
All in all, I think having municipal offices within an educational institution is quite fitting.
The second and more elaborate issue is in regard to President Miller's perceived lack of 'synergy'.
Both the Village and Township Offices have $0 in local taxes levied against them. If either building were to be vacated and a business were to move in; the building would fall back onto the tax rolls and both the Village and Township would receive an increase in property tax revenue.
The combination of campuses could allow for savings through utilities and maintenance. As it is generally accepted, the utilities and maintenance cost on older buildings can be quite astounding compared to more modern structures.
Convenience and ease of access are two other reasons to ponder consolidation. Having a 'one stop' civic center would be very efficient for residents and visitors. It will also help to cut down on some cross town traffic.
Keep in mind that there would be people visiting this 'civic center' from outside our municipal boundaries. This presents a tremendous opportunity for our town to market itself to those who visit the campus from other neighborhoods.
Internal communication efficiencies also come in to play. Having multiple entities under one roof would save postage lag time and increase communication between those involved, including the hosting entity HAS.
One overriding question is how the Village/Township would reimburse HAS for use of their facilities. I don't expect HAS to come to the negotiating table without a list of requests.
The Township and Village buildings have housed municipal operations for quite some time. How much nostalgic value does our community place on these buildings and having government offices located within them?
In totality, would it be more efficient to move in with Holly Area Schools or pursue an alternative? The arguments are overwhelmingly in favor of at least investigating the possibility.
As budgets tighten and our state government begins to restructure, the local municipal landscape MUST adapt.
I applaud Mr. Van Boemel for asking a very relevant question and Darrin for requesting further discussion on the topic.
I hope that in the future these 'big ticket' ideas continue to be reviewed and discussed here and elsewhere within our community.
Holly MUST remain flexible. I cannot impress enough on my fellow leaders that anything can still happen.
As constructive and forward thinking as this thread has been we must keep our heads. Simply put, the idea of encouraging an environment that would increase the potential of exposing our children to strangers just isn't the best for our kids' well being.
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