Liberty View apartment complex moving along

MEDINA — It was a transaction at the end of the Medina Finance Committee that drew little or no attention. Yet, when the city transferred 0.1874 acres of land to the nonprofit Medina City Development Corp., it started the ball rolling on the massive Liberty View apartment project. "It was a portion of the land unused by the parking deck project," City Economic Development Director Kimberly Marshall said. "It was surveyed and it created its own lot. Council voted to transfer that lot to the CIC." The first parcel of land was transferred in 2019 and City Council will act on a second parcel April 12. They will be combined together into 0.443 acres. "This is a logistically challenging project," Marshall said. "It's a small piece of property." But it's a large $9.3 million construction project for the Rose Company. Once the two parcels are combined, the CIC, or Community Improvement Corporation, will execute a land lease agreement with the Rose Company. After the Finance Committee acted on the small tract of land Monday, attorney Pat Walker, of the newly named Stop Government Waste Committee, issued a news release. She said City Council "moved one step closer to giving away taxpayer-owned land along West Liberty Street in downtown Medina to the private developer of the planned Liberty View residential/retail development. The Finance Committee voted to transfer land, that was purchased with taxpayer money, to the Medina City Development Corp. "The MCDC is a private entity that plans to give or lease the land to the developer. This is another piece of the puzzle in the city's scheme to give away valuable city property and to spend more than $5 million in taxpayer money to move the (Medina) Municipal Court that will benefit the politically-connected developer of the planned Liberty View project." Marshall disputed parts of the news release. "The city is not giving away any land," she said. "The city is going to transfer property to the CIC." Marshall said the Medina City Development Corp. is a registered nonprofit community improvement corporation of the city of Medina. Marshall, president of the CIC, said it will hold titles to land and work on economic development projects in the city. Marshall said Medina First Baptist Church sold that parcel of land to the city in 1983 for $6,000. First Baptist built a large church on state Route 18. "The property does have value," she said. The city is holding it. Part of it was transferred to the CIC and the other part is going through the transfer process. We will consolidate those lots. The CIC will make the city whole." The Rose Company has agreed to a land lease on the property. "That money will be used to make the city whole," Marshall said. She said the Rose Company and Gerspacher Real Estate Group went through a competitive bidding process and the city received only two proposals. A committee evaluated the proposals, scored them and picked the Rose Company based on its interview and its willingness to work with the city. The winning bidder was acceptable to a ground lease and Gerspacher wasn't. Marshall said Gerspacher wanted some tax abatement for the hotel, which wasn't possible in the TIF district, and wanted the city to sell it the land. "We can't give tax abatement and get that (TIF) money," Marshall said. Tax increment financing, or TIF, subsidizes companies by refunding or diverting a portion of their taxes to help finance development in an area. Usually, TIF helps to pay for infrastructure improvements (the parking deck) in the area near a new development. A portion of the property taxes on Liberty View will go to the city to help pay for the $3.7 parking deck next to city hall. The city already received a $1 million capital budget grant from the state for the parking structure. As the name implies, a ground lease only involves leasing the ground — not any buildings. A ground lease involves undeveloped commercial land that is leased to tenants who then have the rights to develop and use the property for the duration of the lease. "The hotel project had a lot of demand," Marshall said. "Everyone liked the project, but we couldn't meet the demands of the developers." She said with a ground lease, instead of the CIC selling the land to the Rose Company and it owning it, ensures the city can still control the ground. She said in the ordinance to council April 12 there will be language in it about the CIC reimbursing the city for fair market value. "We are using money from the ground lease to do that," Marshall said. The Rose Company hopes to start construction this summer on a 47,000-square-foot building, tucked between the Donald Pease Federal Building and Sully's Irish Pub. Brendan Rose, principal with Rose Company, said, "We are very excited about Liberty View, and believe that it will be a great addition to the city of Medina and a catalyst for bringing more people to our historic downtown. We are grateful for the opportunity to bring this development to the community." The four-story, mixed-use facility will consist of 9,100 square feet of ground level retail with individual storefronts facing West Liberty Street. In addition, a planned restaurant will include an outdoor dining area. The upper three floors of the building are composed of 39 loft-style apartments, including six two-bedroom apartments of approximately 1,100 square feet each, three studio apartments of approximately 530 square feet each and 30 one-bedroom apartments of approximately 800 square feet each. The building features an elevator, and each apartment will include a custom-designed kitchen with stainless steel appliances, an oversized walk-in shower, in-suite laundry, secure electronic access entry system and individual temperature control. Tenants and customers of the retail establishments will have access to the parking deck. "It's all open to the public," Marshall said. "If residents want to park there, they can park there. They'll get no special treatment. It's first-come, first-served." She said the city is excited about the development, the second mixed-use building constructed in Medina's Historic District in more than 50 years. "The first was the Raymond Building at the corner of North Court Street and East Friendship Street, built in 2018," Marshall said. "As with the Raymond Building, Liberty View fills two needs for downtown Medina: additional retail space and more downtown housing." One downside to some in the community is that Porter's Shoe Repair building will be torn down. That building has been there for more than 60 years, even though the business moved to North Court Street recently. Liberty View's façade will visually blend well with the historic Medina storefronts and give the impression of four separately constructed turn-of-the-century buildings. "It was important to the MCDC that the new construction be architecturally compatible with the circa late 19th century buildings in the surrounding area," Medina Mayor Dennis Hanwell said in a statement. "This development team, which includes owner Mike Rose and architect Tony Cerny, has a long history of working with and preserving the historic buildings in Medina. We expect that this new building will fit right in and look as if it's always been there." Contact reporter Bob Finnan at (330) 721-4049 or rfinnan@medina-gazette.com.