Officially call the meeting of the economic development authority to order for September 9th, 2024.

We do have one item on our consent agenda, and that is the meeting minutes from June 17th, 2024.

I'd invite a motion.

I'll move approval.

Second.

All right.

Councilmember.

Nothing to add.

Any discussion?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All opposed say nay.

Motion carries.

All right.

We're moving on to our item of substance.

It is under reports and recommendations.

And it's 5A exclusive negotiating rights agreement with BG D5 development LLC.

And we have Josh Johnson here to introduce the item.

Go ahead.

Yes.

Thank you, Mayor, President, EDA board members.

So as President mentioned, I'm here to request a uh approval of the exclusive negotiation rates agreement with BGBG D5 Development LLC.

I also want to acknowledge that we have members of the Titan group, uhKA BG D5 LLC, uh Bill Cater and Brian Mosier.

I know this isn't a public hearing, but they have uh offered to make any comments or answer any questions if the council sees so fit.

Um I'll give a little bit of contact context and introduce uh this request.

So uh exclusive negotiation agreements aren't a new concept.

We we've entered them into them very recently.

I think in my time, we've typically done it when we've had a city-owned parcel and we're going out for an RFQ and RFP to exclusively negotiate with a private entity.

In this case, the private entity private entity actually owns the site.

So by default, we're negotiating exclusively with them.

So this is really uh an agreement to negotiate.

Um I'd say that we've typically, when we come to council, we have some of these negotiations a little bit more baked before we come forward.

Um the timing for this request is really the development team has an ambitious development schedule.

Um we thought it was pertinent to bring this uh forward just for transparency for the council EDA to understand what are the key aspects of the project and agreement to make this project feasible.

Um the EDA recommends approval, and then it'll be the staff's um objective to work with the developer to make sure that we're meeting city objectives and balancing any development assistance that's provided with the benefits that are being provided by the by the project.

Um to give a little example of the program features within the project that's being contemplated.

Uh it's a 14-story uh development.

Uh the first two floors are going to be retail and they'll be integrated with the galleria project.

So to create more um retail diversity, uh create a little bit more um efficiency with the galleria, and I think really enhance that area as our dining and retail district.

Um the the floors three through five are going to be uh university administrative and student space.

I think once again, creating you know more effective use of that space and creating a better environment for um for those students.

Uh the floors six through 13 are proposed to be student housing.

I'll acknowledge that there's not a contract or lease agreement with any um university.

Uh I'll just add that there are multiple institutions of higher learning in Rochester.

Uh the developer has determined there is demand for that style of development, and they've got recent experience with the double tree conversion.

Um I also want to just acknowledge that any of these negotiations or improvements are only being contemplated on land that's owned by BGD5 LLC.

Um those would be the four parcels that are currently the vacant Michael site.

Um I think some of the benefits just to give a high level.

Uh, you know, obviously we're looking at a uh blighted vacant um uh building right now.

Um, so I think just improving that uh is is a benefit to the community.

It's located centrally downtown.

We've been making improvements to Heart of the City Broadway.

Um this would enhance the streetscape on both the Broadway side, but also I think there's a lot of um improvements we can make to the alley and and how do we activate that, you know, both east and west of the site itself.

Um obviously any housing is is good for downtown.

Um having more diverse, you know, students, young professionals living downtown uh is gonna create that critical mass that we need for retailers to really look at and say, hey, like there's a unique opportunity here to open up more storefronts, more food and beverage opportunities and so forth.

Um so just to go into a couple of the items that are really critical.

You know, the agreement outlines some of the more tactical things like uh construction easements, uh revocable permits, you know, those will be handled in a future development agreement.

Um right now the conversations are really gonna be centered around any city and DMC assistance that's warranted uh for the development.

Um we go through extensive analysis of developments performa, understand are the rates of return in line with what we'd expect for a market uh property.