Tag: RDC

Analysis: Bloomington OKs public offering of Hopewell land with apparent mistake in description

At its regular Monday meeting, Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) approved a public offering of property south of 1st Street opposite the location of the former IU Health hospital.

Responding to a question raised by The B Square, about the accuracy of the textual description of the three separate pieces of land, the board amended their motion on the offering before adopting it.

The new motion required city staff to add a map—one that is labeled numerically for each of the three parcels.

Based on the map that the board asked to be added, it might be possible to tell exactly what land the city is putting up for sale.

But an apparent mistake in the textual description was allowed to remain. Continue reading “Analysis: Bloomington OKs public offering of Hopewell land with apparent mistake in description” →

Technology park: Bloomington OKs $50K for IU Public Policy Institute to help with maintaining certification

Bloomington redevelopment commission meeting (Aug. 22, 2023)

At its regular Monday meeting, Bloomington’s five-member redevelopment commission approved a $49,825 agreement with Indiana University’s Public Policy Institute, to help meet state requirements for reporting about the city’s certified technology park (CTP).

Bloomington’s CTP is a 65-acre chunk of downtown land located north and west of city hall. The CTP includes the Trades District, a 12-acre area that is currently the focus of redevelopment efforts.

The information, which IUPPI is supposed help report to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) by Oct. 13, includes among other things: the number and names of businesses in the CTP; employment, payroll, and average wage for each active business in the CTP; the cumulative amount of capital investment made by each business for the last year, and the last three years. Continue reading “Technology park: Bloomington OKs $50K for IU Public Policy Institute to help with maintaining certification” →

Showers West prep for police, Hopewell owner’s rep: 2 RDC projects take steps forward

The image is from the master plan for the redevelopment of the Hopewell site, which is the former site of the IU Health hospital. The view is from the southwest.
The view is from the west of the Showers building. The pink outline shows the portion of the building that Bloomington has made an accepted offer to purchase from CFC Properties. The image is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s property lookup system.

At its Monday meeting, Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) took incremental steps on two of its projects.

First, the RDC ​ approved a $479,000 contract with U3 Advisors to serve as the owner’s representative for the redevelopment of the Hopewell neighborhood—which is the former site of the IU Health hospital, at 2nd and Rogers streets.

On a second item, the RDC approved a $100,000 contract with Axis Architecture for some preliminary design work on the western part of the Showers building—where city hall is located. It’s the portion of the building that is the planned future home of Bloomington’s police station and fire administration. Continue reading “Showers West prep for police, Hopewell owner’s rep: 2 RDC projects take steps forward” →

Sale of Showers admin building to investor in Kiln Collective OK’d by Bloomington RDC

The image, looking east, is dated April 2020. It’s from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system. Annotation by The B Square.
Looking northwest towards the the Showers administration building at 10th and Morton Streets.
Looking north towards the the Showers administration building at 10th and Morton Streets.

The boarded up historic Showers administration building in the Trades District, north of city hall, will be getting at least a partial rehab by its new owner, Eurton Properties.

The conveyance agreement, which calls for Eurton to pay $400,000 for the property, was approved by Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) at its regular Monday evening meeting.

The admin building stands at the corner of Morton and 10th Streets. Continue reading “Sale of Showers admin building to investor in Kiln Collective OK’d by Bloomington RDC” →

Bloomington to pay $500,000 less for western part of city hall building

The view of the CFC Properties side of the former Showers furniture building, from the southwest.
The view is from the west of the Showers building. The pink outline shows the portion of the building that Bloomington has made an accepted offer to purchase from CFC Properties. The image is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s property lookup system.

In mid-July, Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) gave initial approval to a $9.25 million deal to purchase CFC’s portion of the Showers building—which houses city hall in the eastern part of the building, in addition to CFC offices in the western part.

But that price has now dropped by a half million dollars.

At its regular meeting on Monday, the RDC approved an amendment to the purchase agreement that knocks the price down to $8.75 million. The address of the building is 320 W. 8th St.

Bloomington was able to negotiate a price reduction, according to a memo provided in the RDC’s meeting information packet, “[b]ased on renovation cost estimates produced by the consultants assisting with due diligence.”

During the due diligence phase for the purchase agreement, the city has brought in architects and public safety construction experts, to estimate the cost to convert the space to a police and fire administrative headquarters.

The plan would consolidate in the same building as city hall two additional facilities: the police headquarters on 3rd Street; and the fire administrative headquarters at 4th and Lincoln streets. Continue reading “Bloomington to pay $500,000 less for western part of city hall building” →

Bloomington looks finally to put commercial tenants in ground floors of city parking garages

Trades District parking garage lookin southeast from Rogers Street. (Nov. 5, 2022)
4th Street parking garage looking west from Walnut Street (Nov. 5, 2022).

The ground floor commercial space in the city of Bloomington’s two new public parking garages—on 4th Street and in the Trades District—could finally see some tenants, more than a year after construction was completed.

Terms for lease agreements in both parking garages appear on the agenda for Monday’s regular meeting of Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC).

Slotting into the 4th Street space will be Hoosier Networks. That’s the company formed by Paris-based Meridiam to do business in Indiana, as part of deal with the city of Bloomington to build a fiber-to-the-home network in the city.

Hoosier Networks will also be able to lease some temporary space in College Square, which is the former location of the Bunger & Robertson law firm, which the RDC purchased with an eye towards developing the parcel as part of an expanded convention center.  It’s the spot where Bloomington’s downtown fire station has landed temporarily after the June 2021 flooding damaged the fire station at 4th and Lincoln streets.

Taking the Trades District garage space will be the University of California – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. That’s after the RDC in mid-April had approved terms of a lease with the software company Exclaimer for the Trades District garage space. The Trades District garage ground floor space for lease is still an empty box—it doesn’t look like it ever got built out for Exclaimer.

Continue reading “Bloomington looks finally to put commercial tenants in ground floors of city parking garages” →

Griffy dam trail crossing gets OK from Bloomington RDC: “It’s not within the TIF—it’s serving the TIF.”

The image is from the April 2022 Pictometry module of the Monroe County online property lookup system.

A gravel path across the top of Griffy dam, including staircase access and safety fencing, with an estimated cost of $375,000, now has approval in concept as a Bloomington redevelopment commission project.

The unanimous vote by the five-member Bloomington RDC came at the group’s regular meeting on Monday. No expenditure of funds was approved with Monday’s vote.

It’s currently possible for hikers to get across the dam by going through a fence, Bloomington parks operations manager Tim Street told the RDC. But the new path will “formalize” the crossing and in places improve the aesthetics of chain link with cedar split rail fence.

The Griffy dam trail crossing is on the list of projects approved by the Bloomington city council and the board of park commissioners in May this year, as part of a $10-million bond package. Half that amount was was made up of parks bonds.

When Bloomington’s city council gave its approval for issuance of the parks bonds, it put the dam crossing last on in its priority ranking.

The low priority ranking by the city council is key to the RDC’s agreement now to make the dam crossing one of its projects to be paid for out of tax increment finance (TIF) revenue. Continue reading “Griffy dam trail crossing gets OK from Bloomington RDC: “It’s not within the TIF—it’s serving the TIF.”” →

Showers building purchase update: Bloomington RDC OKs $68K in due diligence contracts

The view of the CFC Properties side of the former Showers furniture building, from the southwest.
The view is from the west of the Showers building. The pink outline shows the portion of the building that Bloomington has made an accepted offer to purchase from CFC Properties. The image is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s property lookup system.

The city of Bloomington’s hoped-for purchase of the western portion of the Showers building, where city hall is located, took an incremental step forward on Monday.

In connection with due diligence work in advance of the $9.25-million purchase from CFC Properties,  Bloomington’s RDC has approved three contracts totaling $67,800. The unanimous approvals came at the RDC’s regular meeting on Monday.

Approved at Monday’s meeting were: a contract with BCA Environmental for environmental analysis ($2,800); a contract with Tabor/Bruce Architecture & Design for investigation of the building’s mechanical systems ($15,000); and a contract with Springpoint Architects for a public safety evaluation ($50,000). Continue reading “Showers building purchase update: Bloomington RDC OKs $68K in due diligence contracts” →

Property acquisition notebook: Appraisals of former Showers building, also done 3 years ago

The view of the CFC Properties side of the former Showers furniture building, from the southwest.
The view is from the west of the Showers building. The pink outline shows the portion of the building that Bloomington has made an accepted offer to purchase from CFC Properties. The image is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s property lookup system.

Last Friday, the city of Bloomington issued a news release announcing a potential real estate purchase.

The city has made a $9.25-million offer to CFC Properties to buy the west part of the former Showers furniture factory building, which is home to city hall. While city hall has a Morton Street address, the other side of the building has the address 320 W. 8th Street.

CFC has accepted the offer, and after various due diligence activities are completed, the closing is expected no later than early next year. The process requires an approval from Bloomington’s city council.

The pending real estate purchase offers a window into some of the statutory requirements that apply to such deals. Continue reading “Property acquisition notebook: Appraisals of former Showers building, also done 3 years ago” →

Column: Blurry images instead of digital text should not be good enough for Bloomington government

Image of contract included in RDC meeting packet.
Result of an OCR attempt of RDC meeting packet scope of work.

The government of every city in America tries to talk a good game about transparency and accessibility.

Bloomington, Indiana is no different.

But Bloomington fails at basic accessibility just as often as many other cities with way fewer resources.

Today’s example comes from the information packet that has been posted to support the Bloomington redevelopment commission’s Monday (March 7, 2022) meeting. Continue reading “Column: Blurry images instead of digital text should not be good enough for Bloomington government” →