Traverse City Downtown Development Authority (DDA) board members Friday approved reconstructing a downtown parking lot to add 45 new spaces to the parking system next spring. Board members also discussed updates on several planned downtown development projects, as well as the search process for a new DDA executive director.

Parking
DDA board members approved a deal with a State Street property owner to combine three lots into an expanded new downtown parking lot.

The DDA currently leases 35 parking spaces from the Paulos Land Company for public permitted parking in Lot P at 130 State Street (pictured) next to Living Light Massage. Paulos Land Company also owns adjoining property at 124 and 128 State Street and is planning to demolish the large building at 124 State Street – formerly home to Ambrosia Gelato – to make way for parking.

Under a new revised lease agreement, the DDA will pay engineering and construction costs to combine the three parcels into one new parking lot featuring 80 public permitted spaces. The project is estimated to cost $150,000 and would commence in spring 2018, with spaces available for use by end of June. The DDA has a minimum five-year lease with Paulos Land Company to ensure it can recuperate its investment in construction costs through parking revenues.

DDA Executive Director Rob Bacigalupi told board members Friday the addition of 45 new spaces would help offset some of the loss of parking spaces to development elsewhere downtown until the proposed new West Front Street parking deck can be built.

“We want to be in the position to have enough parking down the road while construction is going on and not be caught kind of short-handed,” Bacigalupi said. “We are setting the stage for next year, expanding that lot and adding additional spaces so that when these developments occur in these other lots, we’ll at least have some back-filling.”

Development Projects
Time is ticking down for a developer to begin construction on a proposed five-story, mixed-use development at 124 West Front Street – or risk facing a public election on the project.

Great Lakes Central Properties has a special land use permit (SLUP) to build a 68-foot building in the large hole in the ground next to the Traverse City Record-Eagle. But in a development update to DDA board members Friday, Grand Traverse County Director of Community Development and Codes Jean Derenzy noted the group’s SLUP will expire November 17 if “substantial construction” has not started on the project. Because the SLUP has already been extended once, it can’t be extended again. “How (Great Lakes Central Properties) will meet that guideline is truly the developer’s responsibility,” said Derenzy, who later told The Ticker the company “is moving as quickly as they can in order to meet the deadline.”

City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht told DDA board members that based on the city’s traditional interpretation of substantial construction, “if there’s not foundations in and steel going up” by November, the permit will expire. The city would then require Great Lakes Central Properties to secure the site; if the developer wanted to pursue another SLUP and continue with plans to build to 68 feet, it would need to go through the public election process outlined under Proposal 3.

Derenzy also told DDA board members Friday that two Warehouse District developers will appear before the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (BRA) August 30 to seek brownfield funding for their projects. Those projects include Thom Darga’s Warehouse Flats development and Patti Mercer’s Grandview Place development. Derenzy stated she would be recommending BRA board members work with the developers on reimbursing environmental clean-up costs, but not non-environmental costs (such as demolition, site preparation, streets and sidewalks). The brownfield plan covering the Warehouse District has already designated between $12 and $13 million for non-environmental costs, Derenzy said, adding it should be capped at that amount.

“The private investment is needed (now),” Derenzy said. “We know that we’ve put enough public investment in to encourage private investment there. I think we’ve done our job.”

DDA Executive Director Search
NorthSky Nonprofit Network is assisting DDA board members in their search for a new executive director after Bacigalupi announced his resignation in June. Bacigalupi, who said the timing was right for him to “move on and pursue the next chapter” in his career, has agreed to stay in his position for up to six months while the board looks for his replacement.

The job description and application details have been posted online and NorthSky Nonprofit Network has begun promoting the opening in multiple trade publications and websites. At least six applications have been received to date, with DDA board members expecting that pace to increase as more publications go to print. A proposed hiring timeline shows an application submission cutoff of September 15, followed by interviews in October and candidate background checks in early November. The selection of a candidate is set to take place by November 30.