The "tower" is on only part of the parking garage, and it has to be "fireproof" (concrete or steel) construction. The "wrap" of low-rise apartments can be three (or four, can never remember which) stories over the podium, and it can be stick-built.Just noticed that I can now start to see the new 10 story apartment building on the north canal starting to come out of the ground as I look in that direction from one of the offices here at work. It must be at least the second floor that they are working on now - because I saw the first floor out of the ground a couple of weeks ago. I'll have to check in person -- it may be the third floor by now. It looks like wood construction - which is strange. That wouldn't be happening for the main ten story part -- so I must be seeing the construction of another, lower part of the project.
I haven't been following this thread as closely as I should...does anybody have a link to renderings for this project?Just noticed that I can now start to see the new 10 story apartment building on the north canal starting to come out of the ground as I look in that direction from one of the offices here at work. It must be at least the second floor that they are working on now - because I saw the first floor out of the ground a couple of weeks ago. I'll have to check in person -- it may be the third floor by now. It looks like wood construction - which is strange. That wouldn't be happening for the main ten story part -- so I must be seeing the construction of another, lower part of the project.
http://www.ibj.com/property-lines-2...60m-canal-apartment-project/PARAMS/post/39047I haven't been following this thread as closely as I should...does anybody have a link to renderings for this project?
By breaking things down this way, we're still at a 15% subsidy for the structured parking component. Nevermind that a proper comparison would have to account for the fact that Block 400 and Cosmo also have retail (job creation) components and are significantly larger residential income tax-generators (especially as they were replacing sites with zero population).Let's look at ROI for the city...totally back of the envelope, though.
Ok, the general property tax goes into the TIF pot and doesn't pay a cent for cops, firefighters, etc. To the extent that it covers more than the city's bond payment, it can be used for other infrastructure and property improvements in BR...Canal, streetscape, etc.
How many jobs will there be at Whole Foods? I am guessing 40-60. A few are well-paid, but most aren't. Let's assume 60 jobs. Typically government subsidize jobs at about $15-20,000 each. That would be $1.2 million in subsidy just for the jobs. So the part going to the real estate project is closer to $3.8 million. Still not great, but also not 25% of project cost...down to 19%.
Now let's assume those jobs pay an average of $15/hour. That's about $1.9 million in payroll. At the city's current rate of income tax, that's almost $30,000 in payroll taxes per year. Net present value of that stream of income using a cap (capitalization) rate of 6.66% is $450,000. Take that off the subsidy and you're down closer to $3.4 million, or 17% of project cost.
And we haven't captured the income tax to be paid by an increased number of (higher-income) residents on the site. Let's say they're adding 50 more units than are already there in the old buildings, which will attract new residents making $50,000 per year on average. That's another $2.5 million of wages, close to $40,000 in income taxes, present value of $600,000.
Now the subsidy is down below $2.8 million, present value. Under 15%. Probably just covers the financial hole created by having so much extra parking, structured.
Some folks will call this "fuzzy math". It's finance and economic development analysis. It's not an exact science, but there's your rubric.
That's kind of my point. Unless they can charge for the parking.Processing all of your comments together, I would guess that the essential issue with Browning's project is that the residential component is small relative to the total number of parking spaces required for this project. Which is to say that the retail component requires a lot of structured parking spaces that it cannot begin to support on its own.
/whine onSo basically Browning is asking for TIF money to support a high-end grocery store in one of the most grocery-store-rich areas of the whole city. This site is a hop-skip-and-a-jump from Good Earth, three-ish blocks from Kroger, 1.2 miles from Marsh, 1.3 miles from Fresh Market, and 1.5 miles from the Glendale Target. Broad Ripple is very far from starving.
Looks like Amazon is adding many more jobs in the area, which is always a good thing.
http://www.ibj.com/amazoncom-looks-to-fill-hundreds-of-jobs-in-indiana/PARAMS/article/42680
Except they treat their employees much better. And provide a platform for B&M retailers, even local ones, to sell their goods nationally on their website.But probably not all that great for B&M retailers and the neighborhoods around them. Not that different than Walmart.
I think this is a good opportunity to go back to the drawing board and convince more people in FS to support this. I heard support was near 50% so to ensure we can break that barrier. We should meet and try to pursuade more support for this improvement district. So the next time well be beyond 50% support.Any thoughts or comments on the side-tracking/failure of the Fountain Square economic improvement district at City-County Council last night?
Amazon probably does treat their employees much better then Walmart, no argument there. But they are terrible for small businesses and B&M retailers. A business selling its goods on Amazon is not a good idea...or at the very least one that requires considerable thought before jumping in. They charge outrageous fees that strip away your profit margin, plus they are known to mine your data, find what you are selling a lot of, then go buy it and sell it themselves for a lot cheaper. Then you're SOL.Except they treat their employees much better. And provide a platform for B&M retailers, even local ones, to sell their goods nationally on their website.
As someone who sells on Amazon, I've yet to pay any fees I've considered "outrageous." It's cheaper than Etsy or eBay, and cheaper than maintaining the overhead of a commercial website - and, before you tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, I'm also a professional web developer that makes commercial websites.Amazon probably does treat their employees much better then Walmart, no argument there. But they are terrible for small businesses and B&M retailers. A business selling its goods on Amazon is not a good idea...or at the very least one that requires considerable thought before jumping in. They charge outrageous fees that strip away your profit margin, plus they are known to mine your data, find what you are selling a lot of, then go buy it and sell it themselves for a lot cheaper. Then you're SOL.
Cheaper to sell on your own website.
As for Amazon, instead of everyone outsourcing to them, I'd much rather they outsource to local small businesses. We have a lot of fulfillment and distribution centers in central Indiana, especially around Park100 and in Plainfield. Would be nice if Amazon could hire these companies to do third party fulfillment for them. Won't ever happen; but I'd think better of them if they ever did give back to businesses like that.