- Developer CCR-MN has requests several extensions related to their plots at the Central Riverfront Development, located at the former IRS site.
- One commissioner expressed anxiety about the delay and inquired about whether it was worth allowing the extension.
- The commissioners will revisit the issue before casting a final vote next week.
A developer at the Covington Central Riverfront Development has requested an extension of the final closing of the land purchase, as well as deadline extensions for constructing the development from the Covington Board of Commissioners.
The request, from developer CCR-MN Developers, LLC., came before the board at its meeting on Tuesday, and at least one of the commissioners, Tim Downing, had thoughts.
“I, for one, am anxious to get this project started,” Downing said on Tuesday. “It seems that each time we start to engage, we get big promises, and then those promises, they start to shrink, and reality sits in. While it’s not a reflection on this particular developer, it’s something that I feel that we’re navigating with the entirety of the development.”
The development will be mixed-use and will include the site’s M and N blocks, which run along Washington Street between 3rd and 4th Streets.
The city first agreed to sell the land to CCR-MN last summer and approved $75 million in municipal financing, which was not part of the original deal, in July to help CCR-MN construct the development’s parking structure.
CCR-MN Developers was specifically formed for this project and consists of several companies: development company Silverman & Co., Messer Construction, and architectural firm KZF Design.
Silverman & Co. is behind several retail and office developments in Blue Ash and is spearheading a mixed-use development in Deerfield, Ohio, called The District at Deerfield.
The developer’s attorney, Patrick Hughes, attended the meeting but did not speak.
Assistant Economic Development Director John Sadosky explained the extensions. It sets the closing date for the land purchase as Oct. 21 and extends the deadline to begin construction from 120 days after that date to 180 days.
The developers also requested to extend the construction completion limit from 18 months to 21 months. Finally, the request amends some of the language of the financing deal.
Sadosky said the developers asked for the extension “to satisfy some of their construction financing requirements,” later adding that “if they fail to commence construction within 180 days of October the 21st, we have option to buy the property back.”
In response to Downing’s comments, Sadosky said, “I can assure you that they are just as anxious to close as we are, and that these deadlines really are a necessity.”
Sadosky said this was especially true because the longer the closing process took, the more “in the hole” the developers would be.
“All the more reason for them to strike faster,” Downing said.
Downing asked that the request be put on the board’s regular agenda for next week’s legislative meeting, meaning the board will engage in additional discussion of the matter and then cast an individual vote on the item.
This is in contrast to items placed on the meeting’s consent agenda, which are all voted on as a group with a single vote.