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Evansville, Indiana.

Like to call this Tuesday, July 7th, 2026 meeting of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission to order.

The first item of business is to elect the vacant secretary position for the commission.

When Hope Fussner resigned because of job responsibilities, we lost our secretary.

So after talking with several folks, Darren has agreed to serve as secretary for the commission if he's elected.

So if someone would be so kind as to nominate him and then second, we'll have a vote.

I'll nominate Darren Morley as secretary of the redevelopment commission.

I second.

Okay, thank you.

We have a nomination for Darren Morley for Secretary and a second.

Uh we don't need a roll call vote, or we do.

Okay, so all those in favor of Darren Morley as secretary, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

Okay.

I will let Darren know that he got elected.

If appointed, I will not run.

If elected, but he said he will serve.

So next item of business is approval of the minutes from the June 16 meeting.

Here we go.

You just got elected.

Unanimous consent.

We thought we we thought we'd do it while you were gone, so you couldn't protest.

I'm sorry.

Okay, next item of business is approval of the minutes from June 16.

Are there any comments, questions, corrections?

I have one on the resolution 26 ERC 14.

14.

It says that code enforcement be it's for demolition.

Um should that be the building commission or code enforcement is okay.

Should it be code enforcement?

No, it shouldn't be building commission code enforcement.

It says code enforcement.

I don't think that's okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any other comments or questions?

Can I have a motion?

I move that we accept the minutes as presented.

Second.

We have a motion to approve the minutes as presented and a second.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Minutes are approved.

Next item of business is the accounts payable voucher.

We have one item.

And this is the raising of those buildings at 305-309 North Maine.

Any questions or comments on the accounts payable voucher?

And by the way, Matt, the way this works is before it gets to us on this report, it goes through all the normal internal control approvals and justification and documentation and Roberts department and all that kind of stuff.

So all of those checks have been have been done at this point.

Our approval is kind of more of a strategic approval, or we have a question on it.

But all from an accounting viewpoint, once it gets here, it's been checked out pretty thoroughly.

Any comments or questions on the accounts payable voucher?

Could I have a motion to approve?

A move that we accept approve the accounts payable voucher.

I second it we have a motion to approve the accounts payable voucher and a second.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Opposed.

It's approved.

Okay.

Next I'd like to open a public hearing.

Two times in a row, guys.

I got it.

Open a public hearing on resolution 26 CRC 16.

This is a resolution of the City of Evansville Redevelopment Commission confirming the declaratory resolution of said commission establishing the cargo's economic development area and allocation area.

So this is this the last step.

Okay.

I turned on your own.

Anyway, so this is a three-step process.

We're creating a new TIFF allocation area for the new Cargas Loss property, which is the old cargus furniture factory.

And so this body, I can't remember what date, probably a month or so ago, approved a declaratory resolution establishing that uh redevelopment area and allocation area.

Then it went to city council, got approved there.

Um area plan also looked at it and approved it.

And then by statute, Indiana law, the way it works is we have to put a notice in the paper, creating this public hearing that is happening right now, so people can come and voice any concerns.

And then the third and final step is then this body confirms all of that other stuff that happened.

So this has been through a lot, and this is the end of the road, fortunately, for the to get this uh cargo's project off the ground.

And is this what the developer's waiting on?

Is this kind of the problem?

They're like almost done with the project.

I started a while ago.

Yeah, no, you know, it's funny.

I looked, this has been in the works for a very long time.

When I look back at my time sheets, um we started this in 2022, and so um w what's gonna happen is assuming you all approve this today, then they'll close on his bonds.

At the end of the end of this month, yeah.

Um is he going to finish the project?

Do you pretty?

I mean, they're they're inside doing work inside.

Yeah, they when I went out there.

I mean, when I went out there, they had everything pretty much framed up, all the wind windows were up, so they're moving right along.

New floors or recycle, some of the recycled fours were in, so they're I would say maybe end of this, maybe end of this year.

Yeah, beginning of next for sure.

Okay, any comments or questions on the public?

I'd like to close the public hearing and move on to a vote.

Someone give me a motion to approve the resolution on the second place.

And make a motion to approve the resolution.

I'll second.

We have a motion to approve resolution 26 CRC 16 and a second.

All those in favor, please signify by saying I.

I close.

Okay.

So resolution 26 DRC 17.

This is a resolution this body pledging certain tax funds, tax increase revenues from the cargo allocation earlier to the project.

Correct.

And so all this does is we created that new tax increment allocation area, which is just the cargas loss property project or project property.

Um, whatever this is again, it's a developer purchase bond, so it's not an obligation to the city.

The developer property owner will pay the taxes in, and then the auditor remits those back, you know, on two twice a year as they get paid in, and then the developer uses that to help service the debt on the project.

And um, looking for it in the language of the resolution, and maybe it doesn't need to be, but if the forgiven tax revenues are not sufficient to pay the debt service, yeah, the bond documents make it clear.

The bond documents aren't part of all of this, but but the the pledge documents make it very clear that if there's a shortfall in the revenues, then it is not an obligation of the city.

In fact, I have them in here somewhere in this stack of documents in my file, and it's very clear about that.

Okay, and that's common in the model.

Yeah.

Uh development purchase bonds.

So really what we're approving on behalf of the city is allowing their tax payments to go to trustee to pay off the law.

Correct.

Okay, yeah.

Any comments or questions?

They're gonna be the full six million.

So it's not to exceed, so I'm not sure.

I yeah, I mean, it's whatever the lender will lend them.

I assume if they can get up to six million based upon that potential stream of tax payments, then I'm sure they'll borrow it.

I have to believe that project costs is more than six million.

Oh, it's like 30 million.

I mean, just the windows in that have building.

I mean, if you look at that, it's amazing.

Okay.

No more questions.

I have a motion, and second.

I'll make a motion.

I'll second.

I have a motion to approve the resolution point six, seven season and second.

All those in favor.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Okay.

Off to the races.

26 ERC 18.

This resolution is to engage London Witty, I'll say not.

And this is related to the bond issuance and the documents and all that stuff for the progress economic development allocation area.

There.

Now it's on.

Turn this off.

I mean you're not using the term off anything.

We don't want to overload the system.

Oh, okay.

So it's to engage 26 ERC 18 is to engage London Whitty.

Advisors for the bond issuance related to the cargus economic development allocation area and project.

Any questions or comments?

$3,500 is what we're paying them on this.

Okay.

Could have could have a motion to approve.

I move that we approve resolution 26 ERC 18.

I'll second.

We have a motion to approve resolution 26 ERC 18 and a second.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

It is passed.

Thank you.

Next item is resolution 26 ERC 19.

And this is to authorize an agreement with Haifer Associates for Professional Design Services in the Jacobsville Redevelopment Area at 301 309 Main Street.

Any questions?

We have Mr.

Justice here from HAFER if uh need him to answer questions.

Lana or Colby, you might want to describe the services.

So as we um discussed earlier, um we paid the voucher for the demolition of the um the buildings that were standing at um 305-309 North Main.

Um so we wanted to quickly um come forward to get some design service agreement um in place.

Um we've been speaking with Jeff about this project for a while, and um this is gonna be phase one, it's gonna be conceptual drawings.

Um they're gonna do some renderings for us.

They're gonna do some analysis on the highest and best use for the property in regards to everything else going on around the property and in the North Main corridor.

Um also taking into consideration the North Main redevelopment plan, so all those things because Hafer's been involved in all of that for the commission over time.

So um Jeff will just continue the work.

And um here, I don't really know the timing.

Um we're not in a big hurry, so um, we're not trying to rush the designs.

But um, so in at future dates, I'll bring forward um Jeff's work products to discuss, and um we can figure out how to move forward with the options that um Jeff and his team come up with for us.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Yeah, hearing none, could I have a motion to approve and a second, please?

I'd make the motion to approve.

I'll second.

Okay, we have a motion to approve resolution 26 ERC 19 and a second.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

Alright, Jeff, you're off and running.

Do you have a thought on timing?

I don't uh, all of the other I said to be determined.

Um, we certainly would expect to be finished with it.

Okay.

And certainly fast for the company, or that uh, and then Lana, the department, once we have the renderings and all of that, what's your thought on putting it out for bid?

Well, um, so once we decide on the the solid concept that we're gonna move forward with trying to build, um then I you know, I think we'll go back to Jeff and have him do uh the next steps, um maybe some schematics so that we can get a cost, a true cost estimate at whatever time, you know, is it 2028 that this is happening 2027?

I don't know how much is it gonna cost to build it, and then and then we'll go from there.

I I don't think that the anything's gonna come out of the ground, you know, real soon.

I mean, I think it would probably be at least a year before we would have anything coming out of the ground at the quickest, would wouldn't you say?

I think so.

Yeah, maybe this time 2027 we would be entertaining uh a uh release for bid.

Um, you know, the structure of what we're doing, you know, maybe we take on a partner.

Um Randy, as you had said earlier, you know, do we want to be the developer in this?

Right now, I think the redevelopment commission's role is still to build and be the leader in the area to show that the area is still alive, the city's still committed, you know, all of those things that uh the neighborhood and the neighbors are are still maybe a little skeptical of, you know, what is the city's commitment long term?

And you know, if we haven't shown that our commitments is is long term, I don't know how else we do that, but this is another step towards that.

If the use that we decide upon involves housing, what are the occupancy rates, right?

The vacancy rates for market rate and affordable housing in the downtown area.

Are they is the vacancy rate pretty low?

I think it's actually pretty the vacancy rate.

Vacancy rate, yeah.

Occupancy rate is high, vacancy rate low, yes.

Yep.

Okay.

As it relates to housing though, are there any restrictions on that property within the Jacobsville area for housing because of any environmental concerns?

No.

Um the property is zoned either M1 or M2, but um we also have the Jacobsville Overlay zoning in place that um by right, you know, housing can go there.

Um any statutory requirement if we do have to change zoning, I mean we can do that easily.

But um, I don't think there's any uh I mean we'll we'll have the full gamut, we'll do a phase one environmental and make sure that you know there wasn't a toxic waste dump right there at that place.

But I believe that the Jericho's bar was probably the original building from way back that was torn down a while back, and then uh I don't really know how old the building that we just torn down was, but um, yeah, anything that we come up with, you know, we'll mitigate it at the time, and we will go through all the proper testing and and such.

Okay, all right.

Well, thank you.

We uh have approved the resolution, so we'll be in uh business of signing contracts with HAFER and off to the races.

Last item of business is resolution 26 CRC 20.

This is a resolution um to approve an economic development agreement with Crawford Door, limited partnership connection with the development and financing of an affordable multifamily development project and other matters in connection therewith.

Um, this EDA and um financing uh associated with that is for the Crawford door development.

Um, not sure if you all are familiar with that before.

We probably previously talked about it in a meeting.

It's at 1701 North Heidelbach.

That is the um adaptive reuse and new construction of a hundred and thirty four unit multifamily tax credit project um by uh House Investments is the developer.

Um they've done a number of developments in the city, including Baker Flats and I think Del Haven Estates in the Ford.

So they're very familiar with with the developer.

I think it's gonna be some studio one, two, and three bedrooms um in the units, and so um what we're here for today is because um uh I went I actually went to the bond bank for this development back in.

I think it was in November for about one point five one point one five million dollars because according to the TIFF statute, in order to support a project, uh this type of a project, you have to turn it into a debt.

So I went to the bond bank um for the 1.15 million that was approved, and so Jacobsville TIFF would be used to pay though that note back.

Um just recently a new development happened with that where um some federal funding sources are also a part of the project, and because of some requirements, we are having to we had to decrease the federal amount of money in the project by 130,000.

And so we're also going to increase the bond by 130,000.

So there's 1.28 million total that we'll be borrowing from the bond bank and using Jacobsville TIFF to pay back that um note with, and so um I'll be going back to the bond bank on is it July 15th for that?

Yeah, in a week um for that.

So you guys, that that is the financing that is associated with this economic development agreement.

Um the project, I believe the developers were meeting with them bi-weekly now, and they're gonna they're planning to close in the third quarter of this year with construction to commence like shortly after that, and project completion, I believe is supposed to be in the within the first half of 2028.

It's a 20 23 million dollars in construction costs.

I think the total project costs um is a little a little bit over $37 million total.

So, excellent.

And is is Crawford door in the Jacobsville TIFF or adjacent?

It's in the Jacobsville, it's it's in the TIFF, yeah.

And uh don't want to be are they still in a partner with the EVP?

They are so they are in partnership with the EVPL for a library at the location, yes, yes.

Yep.

And so and the way we did it.

So raised in my microphone.

Okay, on the forge, we put a million dollars into that project, and the way we did it was um upon 33% completion, we gave them a third of the of the money, 66%, the second third, and then so on until the completion, and that's the way this agreement is structured for this project as well.

And that million two eighty is the total commitment of the city to this project.

For from the ERC.

There's actually there's a total of two million that is going into the project with various city sources.

So I think there's some casino, some ARPA, some federal home funds as well.

And they have a pilot.

And a pilot, yes, they do have a pilot.

So there's a new somewhat new statute in the state of Indiana to support affordable housing.

And we've got done a pilot before.

I can't remember.

I think so.

So anyway, pilot stands for payment in lieu of taxes.

And so there's a statute in Indiana now because they were always trying to figure out ways to incentivize, you know, affordable housing and with different abatement structures and things like that.

And so now there's a statute that says city, you can just agree with developer on what they're gonna pay for their pay in taxes annually if they do affordable housing.

And they have to meet the federal guidelines for for it.

So the city council approved a pilot agreement on the on this one that says so long as you meet the federal guidelines for affordable housing projects, you pay I think two thousand dollars a year in tax.

I can't remember.

But yeah, and they were awarded tax credit projects, tax credit awards, I'm sorry, for the state for this, so it is an affordable housing tax credit project.

They've been awarded for it.

Yep, they were awarded, I believe it was last November.

A couple of questions I had on this, and one maybe it's worrying too much, but there are they're required to pay their taxes in full.

Okay, so we're we're not diverting the taxes, but that's taxes are based on the assessed value.

They're not allowed to protest the assessed value unless it exceeds the cost of the project, or this valuation based on rents received based on occupancy.

And what I was concerned about was if they had low occupancy, that would drive down the assessed value, and they might not have to pay as much in taxes.

So that doesn't come to the point.

That language is kind of just part of a standard agreement.

And this agreement that we're here to approve has a lot of blanks in it.

Well, for their approval, um, I would say houses the developer, yeah.

Yeah, houses the developer.

If um I mean, I don't know that this has to be approved today.

I don't really care.

Uh because they're gonna come.

What's that?

Oh no.

I think they were hoping that all the financing at least would be in place by the end of I think it was July.

They haven't provided comments yet, so um, we can wait for their comments and bring it back next week.

I don't, or in two weeks, I don't care.

It's up, I mean, if you structure the resolution such that it was, yeah, it always says it's the only way for the attorneys.

Okay, and and for, yeah, it always says the attorney and the president of the commission or executive director, but yeah.

They haven't provided comments yet, so the parts that are blank is the estimated cost of the project.

That's not that we need to.

Yeah, I've got dates in here that are blank.

Yeah, I always ask them to give us those dates.

Yeah, I just had a roundabout estimate based on what they're told us in the meeting, which was closing third quarter 2026 project completion within the first half of 2028.

So I don't have a specific date on that, and then the estimates on the construction costs was 23 million, and then the total project costs were was estimated to be at 37.

This thing's obviously been through all kinds of approval state, local, and mayor's things on here.

So I assume she's strongly in favor of all that.

So I'm not too concerned about the blanks.

I just didn't know if there was a if we if we want to wait until they provide comments, I'm fine with it.

I mean, if it I mean the next meeting's almost quorum next meeting.

Yeah, that would be the only concern, I guess.

Do we have a quorum next meeting?

Yeah, really, yeah.

Greg and I are going to be out, yeah.

Okay.

No, oh I'm gonna read it.

But yeah, we have Greg and Alexia and here.

Okay, so it looks like we've got a quorum for the next meeting.

What do you think?

The blanks are just the project costs and construction time, right?

We don't have any control anyway.

So I mean, it's just a million two eighty is already in here.

Yeah, and that's not taken, right?

Nick, based off of your continued working with the developer and their attorneys, do you see a lot of comments coming?

Or due to the fact this has gone through so many hands already?

There, sorry.

The motion would be to approve this resolution with the understanding that when the blank lines on cost and timing are eventually filled in, that they would be in line with the current expectations.

And if they are significantly out of line in the judgment of the department or the commission that this resolution would come back to this body for reapproval.

So that's the kind of motion we're looking for.

Does that work, Nick?

Yeah, I think Colby.

I'll send it to Robin Matt, but the lead on this, so I'll give it in that.

Okay.

We can't act on anything over email like that.

Right.

So we can't do anything outside of a meeting, but we can advise you guys.

If anyone has any issues, let us know.

Okay.

If we have a quorum and we should the next time, would it make any sense to ratify?

Yes.

That way that wouldn't leave an open question.

Yeah, okay.

So anybody uh got a good enough memory to make that motion?

I disqualify myself on that part.

I'll try there.

Uh move on resolution twenty six ERC twenty.

Resolution of the redevelopment commission approving an economic development agreement with Crawford Dorr LLP in connection with the development and financing an affordable multifamily development project and authorizing other matters in connection therewith.

In addition, the making sure that there are that the basic financial caveats that have been laid out within the motion are have not been substantially changed.

I second the motion.

Okay, we have a motion to closed.

Okay.

Okay.

Any other business for the Commission?

If not, today's meeting is adjourned.

Thank you all.