As the Marsh property is being marketed for potential new retail/grocery stores, the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission on Monday approved several agreements for the building to be taken care while the city owns it.
They also approved a real estate sales contract for the Marsh building, 500 S. Buffalo St., Warsaw, between Warsaw Redevelopment Commission, the seller, and Ram Development Partners LLC, the purchaser, out of Birmingham, Ala.
The city bought the Marsh property from Cardinal Services for $1.25 million earlier this year. The Warsaw Redevelopment Commission also approved an agreement with Ram Development earlier this year for Ram to have one year to try to market the building to a national retailer, preferably a grocery store.
On Monday, Warsaw Community Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner said, “This is part of our agreement with Ram Development. One of the conversations we had is that they go out and try to find tenants.” The purchase agreement provides the proof in writing to the potential tenants that they would be able to acquire the building.
Right now, the purchase price is the $1.25 million, but that may change depending on the tenants Ram gets into it.
“We put kind of a graduated scale together. If they get a national grocery store chain in there, we’re likely to give them the property as part of our participation in the project. But until we have those tenants lined up, we don’t know what it will be, so right now it’s the $1.25 million and this will give (Ram) the ability to negotiate with the potential retail tenants, show them that they do have the ability to acquire the property,” Skinner explained.
He later said that Ram feels very confident in being able to get tenants for the Marsh building. “They’ve already had some interest, so we’ll see what materializes, but it would be nice to get some retail to that side of town, especially at that location,” Skinner said.
The commission also approved an agreement with Be Relieved LLC to sweep and mop both large open areas and entry way of the old Marsh building on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until the job is completed. The hourly rate is $40.
“If you’ve been in the Marsh building ... where the old shelving was, there’s just built-up dust and gunk that’s not really attractive when you’re walking in there, trying to market or get rid of the building,” Skinner said.
The last time they were in there with people, he said, one of the people walking through just about slipped and fell on his back because the flooring was “greasy, slimy.” Skinner said while the cleaning wouldn’t be a “spit shine,” it would be clean from a safety perspective.
Two agreements with the Dilling Group were unanimously approved. The first was for $950 for the Dilling Group to do weekly inspections of the Marsh building. The second was for $15,750 for the Dilling Group to do assessments of the plumbing, electrical, roofing and HVAC on the building over a two-day period.

    Warsaw Redevelopment Commisson on Monday approved a resolution authorizing the acquisition of 330 N. Buffalo St. for $44,000 from Eric and Rachel Seeber. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

In other business, the commission:
• Approved a $263,669.45 change order for the airport lift station and force main from HRP Construction.
Skinner said the project ran into some bad soils and a buried garbage dump.
“This project involved two things: It serves the new (housing) development, Greenbrier, which that pipe is in the ground and connected. That’s not an issue,” he said. “The other big part of this project is connecting our airport, which currently has a failed septic. Serious septic issues. So the line that connects to the airport has been the issue.”
The change order is a conservative estimate of how much it will cost for the solution.
• Approved a resolution authorizing the acquisition of 330 N. Buffalo St. for $44,000 from Eric and Rachel Seeber.
Skinner said two appraisals were done and the average of both of them was $27,500. The city agreed to purchase the property for $44,000 because that’s what’s left on the property’s mortgage.
The resolution was the first step in acquiring the property, with the purchase agreement approved by the Redevelopment Commission as written on Monday being the second step.
The property owners must still sign the purchase agreement but they are having their legal counsel review it as of Monday. If any changes are made to the agreement by the property owners, the Redevelopment Commission will have to review and approve the changes, which extend the sale to October.
The property is on the east side of the North Buffalo Street project. It was one of two properties not yet acquired by the city or the Buffalo Street project developer.
After the meeting, Skinner said the developer of the Buffalo Street project, Dave Matthews, claims he “is going to build the rest of the units on the west side down to the Refior property. He claims he is going to start those by the end of the year.”
That includes the rest of the town homes and mews.
In a lawsuit filed by the city of South Bend, South Bend’s Redevelopment Commission is seeking $7.5 million from Matthews for a mixed-use apartment building downtown. The suit includes the $5 million the city gave to the project, plus $2.5 million for breach of contract, according to WNDU Channel 16.
Matthews says the suit should be dismissed because the reimbursement is more than any damages the city actually suffered, and that makes it unenforceable.
• Approved a resolution regarding the disposition of the former Gatke property.
“As with most of our redevelopment projects, we would issue a resolution regarding the disposition, which basically sets the framework in which you could acquire the Gatke property and the offering sheet,” Skinner said.
The two appraisals on the property have been done, with the average being $270,000. Skinner said there will be an advertisement soliciting offers for the sale of the property, subject to and conditioned upon the requirements set forth in the offering sheet, but no one will bid on it. After that, the Redevelopment Commission will be able to dispose of the property into the Gatke project.
“So this is just the start of the disposition process,” he said.
The Gatke project, which is being developed by Rebar, will include the rehabilitation of the existing structure to provide for approximately 16,000 square feet of modern, mixed-use office, commercial and/or restaurant space and the development, construction and equipping of a loft-style apartment building consisting of 70 market-rate one-bedroom and two-bedroom Class A apartments and related amenities.
• Approved a contract with Emans Engineering for professional engineering services associated with the design and permitting of a water main extension along Petro Drive between Shelden Street and Parent Drive.
The total fee for James Emans, the city’s former engineer, is $9,050.
Skinner said the city agreed to do the water main extension as part of the apartment development on Shelden and Parent.