Photo by Howard Owens
During a presentation Monday about putting the Brisbane Mansion — aka current police station — out for a request for proposal, City Councilman Bob Bialkowski raised the question of what happens if a developer takes on the project and then lets it sit idle.
His scenario seemed to mirror what has happened with the stalled Ellicott Station apartment complex on the city’s Southside, and he wasn’t the only one thinking about it.
“We don’t plan on marketing it to Savarino,” City Manager Rachael Tabelski said of Ellicott Station property owner Sam Savarino.
City Council President Eugene Jankowski added that “we wouldn’t let it go into some sort of a problem” because the city would have a clawback or some kind of recourse for a developer who would not follow through after obtaining the property.
Ed Flynn, consultant and vice president of LaBella Associates, and Batavia Development Corporation Director Tammy Hathaway presented a tentative plan for what to do with the property to be vacated by the city police by the end of 2025 when the new police station is completed downtown.
They recommended putting the site up for an RFP to determine developer or investor interest in redeveloping the property and provide information about the existing conditions, characteristics and feasibility study options by an Insight Architecture report for use as apartments or a boutique hotel.
“This can provide a lot of information for the developers that they'll be looking for in terms of the existing condition of building the site, as well as what are some opportunities for redevelopment,” Flynn said. “We also want to make sure we establish some community goals for the project before it goes out so the developer knows what the community goals are for the project. And the ones we kind of have listed here are, preservation of the building and site.
"It's an important historic property in the city of Batavia; it’s very visible. A lot of heritage and history to the building," he said. "And so that's kind of a key goal that we want to maintain compatibility with downtown.”
Another goal is to put it back on the tax roll, he said, for the first time since 1917 when it was established for city government, non-taxable use.
“So, obviously, you don’t want a nonprofit to go in there, and then we want to make sure we get an experienced developer with financial resources,” he said. “So that would be part of the RFP, part of the process of reviewing the proposals when they come in, and talking to the banks and whoever they’re using for their financial back.”
What they don’t want is for someone to buy it and hold it for five years, with nothing happening to the property during that time, he said. The right developer will have the financial means and capacity to complete the renovations and be experienced in having completed other similar projects.
A tentative schedule would be finalizing the RFP by January 2025 and releasing it by February, with an application deadline of April. Staff would review submitted RFPs in May and June, have developer discussions and select a preferred developer to submit to City Council for authorization to sell by the summer of 2025. By fall, agreements with a developer would be executed, and funding would be sought.
“Because there’s probably going to need to be funding to make sure this project happens,” he said. "Then I put a list of some of the past RFPs that we have done in the city and how successful they were. And you can see all of those buildings. There's five buildings there that have been sold in the city. They were either foreclosed properties or properties on city parking lots ... at the time, we sold them zero value in terms of taxable value and available value to the city. Now they're worth 3.5 million in the city, so they're generating taxes.”
That list includes 19-21 Jackson St., Valle Jewelers, valued at $255,000; 20 Center St., Center St. Smokehouse, at $300,000; 61 Jackson St., Angotti Beverage at $315,000; 20 Main St., Tim Horton’s, $550,000; and 90 Main St., Tompkins Insurance, $1.85 million.
“And you can see the types of properties we have there. The building owners are still there. Some of these are 10 or 20 years old. They're still in the building,” he said. “They've been investing in the building. They create character downtown. They create a lot of vitality downtown. And so we’re trying to do the same thing with the Brisbane Mansion, and this is a first step in doing that.”
Hathaway said that the BDC is working with LaBella to “shrink up any vacant time” from when the police department moves out and a developer could move in and take ownership.
That’s important, Jankowski said, “because the longer it stays vacant, the more likely things are breaking down,” and “pipes freeze, and things can happen.”
Flynn asked for questions.
“Okay, so you put out an RFP, find a developer. Looks good. You turn it over to the developer. Eight months later, all of a sudden, work stops on the project. Project starts stagnating. Developers telling you one excuse after another. What recourse do you have?” Bialkowski said.
“You should have a good, solid agreement,” Flynn said. “In the agreement, there should be some kind of opportunity to take the property back if there's no action on the property.”
He deferred to City Attorney George Van Nest. However, Tabelski said that there would be clauses for nonperformance.
“Hopefully, we can get this moving forward,” Jankowski said.
