South Frontage construction moves toward infrastructure work|[05/02/08]
Published 12:00 am Friday, May 2, 2008
A portion of the infrastructure bonds obtained for Cypress Centre Marketplace on South Frontage Road is ready to be released, developers said Thursday.
Warren County supervisors expect to approve an agreement this month with the city to fund road construction and drainage functions on the site using Tax Increment Financing, where projected hikes in property value are pledged toward repaying the bonds.
Under the terms, the county will pledge 50 percent of the increased real property taxes it would collect on the improved land to repay about $1.1 million. City participation will entail pledging all its real property increases and being the main collector of the bonds.
Jimmy Gouras of Gouras Urban Planning Consultants Inc. told supervisors the first bond issue would track the development’s progress, just less than the $343,000 estimated at its outset in 2005 when the city and county gave conditional approvals on the TIF. The pending issuance covers the first 3.2 acres completed, with the balance of the 24-acre site to be developed for retail in later stages.
The $25 million hotel and retail development has made strides after construction and financing issues set back deadlines. One tract, sought by developers for a Ruby Tuesday’s, is listed for sale after plans weren’t realized.
Key parts nearing completion include the 82-room Wingate by Windham hotel, set to open within a month, developer Jimmy Hamilton said.
Another, the new El Sombrero Mexican Restaurant, is to open by year’s end. Developers of a separate hotel to the west, the proposed 83-room, extended-stay Candlewood Suites, could also open by year’s end if foundation work is done on time.
Development at the Halls Ferry-South Frontage Road intersection, the city’s busiest, ramped up after Halls Ferry Elementary was razed. Its landscape was to include the $40 million sports complex proposed by the Aquila Group. However, the private firm backed off plans to place the facility at Halls Ferry Park, citing state environmental reviews on the land, part of which was once a city landfill, hampered its feasibility study.