by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
The Mayoral Transition Downtown Revitalization Committee concluded its work on schedule Thursday in time to present by 5 p.m. a list of recommendations to Mayor-elect Alvin Brown, who takes office today.
One of the main topics of discussion was a recommendation that the City find a source to capitalize the Historic Trust Fund up to $30 million.
The discussion centered on how the committee would recommend that the funds be used — whether to leverage the funds to assist developers with projects intended to renovate buildings into commercial and residential space or to use the fund to purchase outright the properties and then issue requests for proposals for adaptive re-use projects.
Committee member and developer Mike Langton spoke in favor of the purchase plan and suggested the City might issue bonds to raise the Historic Trust Fund to $30 million.
Langton said not restoring the historic structures is “holding back Downtown” and that the City has not been proactive in aiding the restoration of the buildings.
“The City needs to be aggressive,” said Langton.
Bob Rhodes, committee co-chair, said he would support using the historic fund for loans and grants to developers as well as to purchase the buildings.
“I’d like to see us give the mayor flexibility,” he said.
“Loans won’t work because loans have to be paid back,” said Langton, who developed the W.A. Knight Lofts with the help of a $300,000 loan from the City.
“We have to decide if historic buildings are valuable enough to invest disproportionally but in partnership with developers,” he said.
The committee is sending to Brown the recommendation that the Historic Trust Fund be supported at an “adequate level and be used to purchase or for grants and loans to redevelop critical unrestored historic buildings in the core.”
Langton voted against the motion and against adopting the final report of the committee.
He advised his fellow members that he would be submitting to the administration a minority report on the specific point of the City purchasing Downtown’s historic buildings.
“I don’t mean to say I know it all, but I’m one of two developers on this committee,” said Langton.
The committee is submitting a recommendation that Brown convene a “Downtown Summit” within the first six months of his administration.
Rhodes said he’s not sure the community supports the creation of a Downtown Community Empowerment Corp., which the committee voted Tuesday to recommend.
“A summit could help build support,” he said.
Rhodes said the summit “is not the end. Downtown needs a community forum.”
“My sense is Mayor-elect Brown is interested in taking the lead and being a champion for Downtown,” he said.
A motion to endorse specific projects that have been presented during the committee’s meetings was voted down in favor of a broader recommendation that the committee supports public-private partnerships to finance and develop revitalization.
The projects presented to the committee will be submitted as examples of such projects.
“It’s not our responsibility to endorse specific projects. We don’t know what we don’t know about these projects,” said Rhodes.
For a copy of the final recommendation report of the committee, email a request to [email protected].
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