As I am sure that you will recall on March 15, 2022 I recommended that a Letter of Intent be submitted to Truist Bank for the purchase of their property located at 6128 U.S. Highway 19 in the amount of $2,000,000. As a result of several disappointing factors including a change in the disposition strategy for the property the letter of intent did not prompt confirmatory action on the part of Truist. I did however learn of their plans to sell the location along with several hundred other properties to Madison Marquette, a commercial real estate investment management corporation. A closing on the real estate transaction with Madison Marquette is scheduled to occur at the end of the month.
At this point, I have had several conversations with Jon Flood, Director of Madison Marquette, to indicate the CRAs interest in the property. In that respect, he has invited the CRA to submit a Letter of Intent for the property. I believe that it is in the continued best interest of the redevelopment of the southeast quadrant of U.S. Highway 19 and Main Street to move swiftly on a submittal.
As I am sure you may recall, I commissioned for an appraisal of the site in November of 2021 and the appraisal report concluded a value of $2,000,000 for the 2.18 acre parcel of property. Certainly the value for the property has increased since that time due to the growth that the city has experienced in real estate values. Additionally, Madison Marquette is eager to yield a profit on the transaction and therefore I recommend that we submit a strong offer. In that respect, I recommend that a Letter of Intent in the amount of $2,200,000 be executed for the property.
RECOMMENDATION:
The recommendation is to authorize the Executive Director to prepare and release a Letter of Intent to Madison Marquette for the purchase of the property located at 6128 U.S. Highway 19 in the amount of $2,200,000.
BUDGET / FISCAL IMPACT:
There are a couple of different methods by which this expenditure could be financed and the determination should be based on the length of time that the CRA will hold the property as an asset. If the property will not be maintained as an asset of the CRA then the purchase should be facilitated through a loan from the Water and Sewer Fund with repayment at the time of title transfer. If the property is to be maintained as an asset, then the purchase should be financed through the issuance of debt by the CRA.