First tenant agreement for The Forge on Bloomington’s RDC agenda
The first tenant agreement for space in Bloomington’s new technology center in the Trades District could be signed at the start of next week.
Appearing the Monday (Dec. 2) meeting agenda for the city’s five-member redevelopment commission (RDC) is an agreement between The Mill and Folia.
The Mill is the nonprofit that is acting as the RDC’s property manager for the technology center (aka The Forge). Folia is a company that offers a platform for secure annotation of documents.
The five-year lease agreement calls for a total payment of $1,487 per month, which works out to $17,848 annually. Folia is leasing 618 square feet in the northwest corner of the ground floor of the building.
The total lease payment is based on a rate of $21 per square foot for the 618 square feet ($12,978), plus another $4,870 for Folia’s share of the common areas in the building, which total 3,978 square feet.
Folia’s fraction of the common space maintenance costs will be 4.91 percent of the total.
The common areas include lobby areas, the social hub, restrooms, conference/training room, focus booths, and the rooftop deck.
There is an option to extend the lease for three additional five-year terms.
Folio will have an improvement allowance of $175 per square foot which works out to $108,150. A grant from the Lilly Foundation is helping to cover the cost of tenant improvements.
The co-founder of Folio is Ravi Bhatt, who is also chair of the board of directors of The Mill. Bhatt delivered remarks at the grand opening of The Forge 10 days ago.
The 4.91-percent share of Folia’s common area maintenance is based on its 618 square feet, as a fraction of the total 12,577 square feet of rentable space.
That means about 95 percent of the tenant space at The Forge is still to be leased out.
Initially appearing on Monday’s RDC agenda, but struck from it, was a lease agreement with ViVum Computing. Responding to an emailed question from The B Square last week, John Fernandez, who is vice president of The Mill, wrote that there are actually three leases in the works, that are just awaiting signatures.
The nearly $13-million budget for The Forge drew on a $3.5 million grant from the federal Economic Development Administration (EDA), as well as TIF (tax increment finance) funding approved by Bloomington’s RDC.
The Trades District is a 12-acre portion of a larger area that forms Bloomington’s certified technology park.
The Mill has a connection to the Trades District that includes responsibility for marketing and promoting the developable land there. The city of Bloomington purchased the land from Indiana University in 2011 for $9.3 million.
The Dec. 2 meeting of Bloomington’s RDC starts at 5 p.m in city hall.
