Business & Industrial Development Authority

Nashua Business and Industrial Development Authority Meeting Minutes October 17, 2014 1. Call to Order and Welcome The regular meeting of the Nashua Business and Industrial Development Authority was called to order at 8:21 a.m. on October 17, 2014 in City Hall Conference Room 208, by Chairman Jack Tulley. Present: Chairman Jack Tulley, John Stabile, Brad Vear, Camille Pattison, Heath Gaffney, Don Zizzi, David Fredette, Jason Haviland, Donnalee Lozeau, Karen Tehan (via Telephone), Alderman Brian McCarthy Other Attendees: Tom Galligani, Steve Kominski (Dakota Partners), Marc Daigle (Dakota Partners), Roberto Arista (Dakota Partners), James Vayo (Renaissance Downtowns). 2. Approval of Meeting Minutes from August 22, 2014 MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES FROM THE AUGUST 22, 2014 MEETING MADE BY B VEAR. MOTION WAS SECONDED BY C PATTISON AND APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY. 3. Bridge Street Project Update R Arista provided details on the latest conversations that took place between their firm and New Hampshire Housing Finance Agency. NHHFA indicated that staff will not recommend their project to NHHFA Board as they feel as though the Dakota application is premature. NHHFA indicated that that Dakota is not on the same page as the City of Nashua. The application was for a LITEC project for the first phase, along with a market rate portion. This was clear in the application. However, when asked by NHHFA about future phases, Dakota indicated the possibility of applying for LITEC for future phases. Dakota did this without consulting the City of Nashua, which R Arista realizes was a strategic mistake. Agencies look favorably toward future phases with additional LITEC-- Dakota knows this from past experience. S Kominski indicated that the Board will be meeting within the next two weeks. There is an opportunity to appeal to staff right now in hopes that they can change their decision. In addition, there is an opportunity to formally appeal the decision of the Board. Both approaches will require support by the City. J Tulley asked if they could elaborate on the word "premature." R Arista indicated that the language related to the future intentions and the City's lack of knowledge about this was the problem. J Tulley asked if there were any other issues related to the application. S Kominski conveyed that the access to the site (traffic) and the skate park timing are other areas of concern. 1 J Tulley asked if Dakota feels as though these reasons are just an excuse for NHHFA to say no. S Kominski explained that they will need a political push from the City to help with the appeal. The Board typically goes with the staff recommendation. D Zizzi asked who did NFFHA talk to at the City. Mayor Lozeau explained that she spoke with NHHFA. She said that she is not at all happy with Dakota. She was very surprised to find out that Dakota plans to have future phases to also be affordable / LIHTC units. This is an amazing property and I can certainly live with a mixed income housing project. NHHFA and I are concerned with concentrating low income housing on this site which might have the effect of isolating these potential residents. NHHFA is also concerned about the roundabout planning and the timeliness of this. D Zizzi asked if the City has heard a response from Renaissance about the status of the contribution to the study. Mayor Lozeau indicated that the City has received $15,000 of the promised $30,000. The remaining $15,000 is expected in a couple of weeks. The Mayor noted that the City has been waiting for over 6 months for these funds and has had to hold off on the study since that time. The Mayor also reminded the BIDA that the skatepark study is still an important issue for NHHFA. J Stable explained that while he is not a part of the City, he did receive a call from NHHFA a few weeks ago. They asked him about the changes proposed by Dakota--specifically the plans for the future phases. He called T Galligani, who wasn't aware of the future intentions. John felt that this is a big change to what the BIDA had planned and that those changes would not be supported by the Mayor. S Kominski explained that there are no other changes to the project. He described the back story that led them describing future intentions to NHHFA. Dakota developed the Pine Valley Mill--the first phase of the project was a big success. They didn't describe this project as a phased project initially, but if they did, they would garner another 5 points in the scoring process. Thus, they did and received funding. They wanted to use the same scoring process for the Bridge Street application. D Zizzi asked if all things being equal--would this project scored well enough to achieve funding. R Arista said that he felt that this was the only issue. Mayor Lozeau indicated that traffic was a big issue during her conversations with NHHFA. S Kominski indicated that at the end, Dakota did put the issue off the table. D Zizzi wanted to clarify that beyond the skate park and traffic, this is the only issue for NHHFA. 2 Mayor Lozeau indicated, yes. However, she reminded the BIDA that this is an opportunity for BIDA to look at this project with fresh eyes. S Kominski indicated that Dakota was vague about affordability in the future. Mayor Lozeau read an email that she had forwarded to her from NHHFA which clearly indicated that Dakota expressed their future intentions for the project to include affordability. J Vayo explained that this was all in an effort to improve the score of the application. H Gaffney expressed that this is a big issue for the BIDA, as we did not know about this important change. B Vear asked how the application ranked. S Kominski said that the application did rank well, otherwise. J Tulley asked when we/Dakota will be given something in writing. Mayor Lozeau mentioned that there will be no notice until the NHHFA board meeting on November 18th. I wanted to bring this discussion to the BIDA as I've grown uncomfortable about the partnership. I want the BIDA to weigh in. J Tulley mentioned that he's been involved with the BIDA for 12 years. Mayor Lozeau indicated that we need to get this project done right. B Vear asked if strategic phasing is eliminated, would it satisfy the Mayor's office. Mayor Lozeau indicated that she has overall concerns about the relationship between the City and Dakota. B Vear expressed concerns about the physical design of the buildings, now. J Haviland expressed concerns about the overall vision. B Vear indicated that the Mayor was convinced before--what if we dialed it back? Mayor Lozeau indicated that it is now a trust issue. R Arista mentioned that the mistrust statement hurts. Its not the way the Dakota wants it. He apologized for not doing this the right way. I can guarantee that all future buildings will not be affordable. We are talking to investors who are interested. Mayor Lozeau said that she agrees that it's pre-mature and doesn't agree that the future phases will work. It's an opportunity to regroup. 3 C Pattison mentioned that a lot of staff time has been invested. What can we do to get this moving again? We don't want to go back and forth. J Stabile said that if we can't make the market work today in the current real estate investment environment, I don't know when the market will ever work. Is the equity in this deal is all LIHTC? R Arista answered yes. B Vear expressed that it's premature because of infrastructure, too. How can they be justified without private development? I'm disappointed that there is a trust issue. We should have started three month ago. J Stabile said that he wants to see something happen. The BIDA should get into an earnest discussion with Dakota--perhaps a 2 week effort. H Gaffney asked Dakota to summarize their talking points today. R Arista explained that we're stuck. We've been shot down due to the disconnect between the City and Dakota partners. Without a political push, it won't happen. Mayor Lozeau expressed that the City/BIDA wants to find a solution--where do we go from here? It's worth working on for another two weeks. Maybe it will work. J Stabile expressed that he doesn't want to waste time if this is not solvable. Mayor Lozeau said that she doesn't mistrust Dakota, as she doesn't really know them. D Zizzi said that he is only eight years into this project with Renaissance. What is their position? J Vayo explained that Ryan Porter has been talking with Tom Galligani. T Galligani walked through the discussions he has had all along with Ryan Porter of Renaissance. He also spoke about the conversations that staff has had with NHHFA. NHHFA has expressed a lot of concern to staff about the timing of the completion of the traffic circle as well as their concern that this development may lead tenants along on an island. D Zizzi expressed that J Stabile makes a good point that we need to solve this soon. J Vayo said that this project is close to viable as a market rate project--we're just 10 cents away on a per square foot basis (rents). J Tulley asked what authority NHHFA has to make these decisions. Who is the staff decision maker. Mayor Lozeau indicated that Chris Miller is the lead on LIHTC project evaluation. S Kominski indicated that the Board should be approached, not Chris. 4  D Zizzi asked why? S Kominski said that he feels as though Chris has already made up his mind. Mayor Lozeau said that we should talk to Chris as it will make a difference. D Zizzi asked the BIDA what they want to see. C Pattison asked what the appeal process entails. D Zizzi asked if we all went up and said that we're on the same page, will the work? B Vear said that this will not change in two weeks. J Stabile mentioned that Dakota needs to be clear about future intentions. C Pattison asked how soon the decision will be made. S Kominski said that we need to get going in the next two weeks, before NHHFA announces the awards. B Vear reminded the BIDA that this project is immature without the infrastructure completed. Mayor Lozeau suggested that the BIDA get together soon. J Tulley agreed with the Mayor's suggestion. R Arista expressed his appreciation for the BIDA's willingness to take another look at this sooner as two weeks is too long. The longer we wait, it will be more difficult for NHHFA to change its mind as they will have already notified other award winners. B McCarthy spoke about the perspective of the Board of Aldermen. We approved the amendment recently and were clear that future phases should be market rate. D Zizzi reiterated that nobody in the room disagrees with that direction. 5. Next Meeting Date: November 21, 2014 MOTION TO CLOSE THE MEETING AT 9:16 BY MAYOR LOZEAU. MOTION WAS SECONDED BY C PATTISON AND APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY. Minutes prepared by T Galligani 5