As published in the May 1, 2006 Toledo Business Journal
Don Monroe
River East Economic Revitalization Corporation,
executive director
Economic development by opportunity, not force
Toledo Business Journal recently met with Don Monroe, executive director of the River East Economic Revitalization Corporation, who is also leading the Marina District project. He shared the following thoughts.
TBJ: Can you update the progress on securing tenants and developers for the Marina District project?
DM: I have been involved in the Marina District project directly for about two months. The project is in its fifth or sixth year. Since Frank Cass decided he was not able to make the project move forward, they’ve also been through Larry Dillin and Bruce Douglas as master developers. Until recently, the City had a contract with Pizzuti out of Columbus to be the master developer. The primary responsibility of the master developer is to do the recruitment for each piece of the development. I believe Pizzuti was asked to try to focus on a “destination anchor” to guide the rest of the development – in other words, if a Bass Pro were there, and I only use that because that’s a name that’s been used. This would put us in a position to be able to negotiate attractively for the City and the community with other users who want to be there. It’s the same premise as a mall. Relative to a destination anchor, to the best of my knowledge, there has been no action, no interest, on the part of anyone other than Bass Pro having come here for half a day to see the site.
In many developments, retail is the last piece. As a community develops, the first thing that happens is a need for employment is created; somebody starts a business. The employees need to live near where they work, so they start building houses. Pretty soon, some enterprising person says: “I need to sell them pots and pans.” So then the retail comes in. Hoping for a destination anchor first may not have been terribly realistic on our part.
Because of the luxury of having a 125-acre parcel, we’re going to continue to set aside a piece of land for a destination anchor. We certainly don’t want to limit our options for proper development. During our second meeting, we structured subcommittees on ten different subjects, for each of the proponents that were proposed by Pizzuti. For example, housing, amphitheater, environmental site prep subcommittees. We broke it down to try to get a better handle on the project, and added people to those subcommittees who have appropriate backgrounds…
Other than the marina and terminal, which are funded, I am optimistic that there will be at least one more formal announcement this year.
TBJ: Can you discuss issues involved with the site location of the planned amphitheater?
DM: To some degree, if the arena does not remain in east Toledo – if it moves to one of the sites downtown – an amphitheater seems to be a decent attraction to somewhat replace an arena as an activity area in east Toledo. I have become a pretty big believer in an amphitheater as a nice amenity, and even more attractive to the existing community than an arena.
I compare an amphitheater more to Fifth Third Field, and I compare an arena more to Stranahan Theater, the reason being Fifth Third Field and an amphitheater are summertime activities. History has told us people walk to Fifth Third Field from a great distance. It’s not as likely people will walk the same distance in February to go to a hockey game. From that perspective, I like an amphitheater better because convenience retail in the existing community along the way will benefit because it generates pedestrian movement.
We are looking at numerous locations; we have not locked in on one. Things that drive that include how much land area will be needed to handle the number of people that we would anticipate, soil conditions, infrastructure relocation, and sound containment.
Tentatively, we’re looking at three sites in International Park, which could mean that the Marina District formally gets expanded to include part of International Park. I do believe very strongly that if the Marina District plan does not include activity areas inside International Park, we could cause serious difficulty for The Docks… if we leave a big gap between The Docks and the activity area of the Marina District, people will not be inclined to walk over to The Docks. We need to create continuity.
We are also still considering the existing Sports Arena site for the amphitheater. Another Marina District site was put on the table by the environmental subcommittee, so we’re looking at five sites.
TBJ: Can you update us on the Starboard Side Condominium project and any future plans for residential development at or near this site?
DM: Starboard Side began about ten years ago, when we decided that someone needs to do market-rate residential in the downtown / near-downtown area – new construction. The only housing being done at that time was subsidized. We came up with this concept of doing a three-pronged residential development, and the condominiums were supposed to be the third and last piece implemented.
The first piece began six years ago and is still active – building brand-new, what they call in-fill housing, in the existing neighborhood. That is being done by Neighborhood Housing Services, which is one of our partners, along with Housing East, on Starboard Side. I think they have constructed 16 homes to date – all have three bedrooms, two baths, and two-car garages. All of them are also built in compliance with Energy Star guidelines, as are the condominiums. And all of it carries tax abatement. The taxes are based on the value of the land before the improvement; it’s a great incentive.
The second phase was to be a market-rate subdivision of about two dozen homes, but there’s been an issue. We’re trying to acquire the former Olive Branch rail line. It went into eminent domain, so that the second and third phases of our project were on hold for years…
We finally decided to go ahead with the condominiums about two years ago since we have no idea when that eminent domain may end up being resolved. They’re financed by Fifth Third Bank, LISC, and Fannie Mae, which is a private lender.
When done, the project will consist of 24 units, 10 two-story and 14 three-story. Phase one was seven units; four of the seven are occupied. The fifth unit is closing very soon. That leaves 2 two-story units available before we move into the second phase. The cost of the two-story units is $269,500. The three-story units are just under 4,000 square feet, and the two-story are just under 2,400.
Our general contractor up to the sill plates is A.A. Boos, and from the sill plate up has been Gene Paul Builders, and we’re very happy with the work performance of both. It is a quality development and every unit that has sold has appraised for more than the purchase price.
TBJ: Can you discuss other planned projects or priorities for River East Revitalization Corporation?
DM: Economic development is so different from what a typical CDC is seen as doing; we have always done economic development. You have two options. One, grab the bull by the horns and force it, which is risky. Two, have some patience and react to opportunities. Most of the economic development that we have been involved in, in a leadership position, has been reacting to opportunities.
We do have a couple things we are deliberately looking at doing. This year, we have sold off some riverfront property we had from when we bought the Jobst building, there will be a new dental office on Miami Street, and a new Locke Branch Library.
It takes a long time to do redevelopment. We don’t have clean land – it’s all redevelopment. I have a romance with east Toledo – it’s where I grew up.