Properties will be transferred from RDA to City
— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 6 March 2011 — 4 comments below »
The following four properties will be transferred from the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) — which had purchased the properties within the last few years — to the City in order to protect the assets in the likely scenario that the governor’s plan to eliminate redevelopment agencies is enacted:
- Parcel C (also known as the Walmart parcel), 17 acres, purchased in 2008 for $13.9m.
- Sycamore Crossing, 11 acres, purchased in 2007 for $14.5m.
- Victoria Crescent, 6.5 acres, purchased in 2008 for $3.4m.
- Yellow Freight, 3.5 acres, purchased in 2008 for $1.9m.
The transfer will be approved by the city council at Tuesday evening’s meeting.
Transfer the properties, then sell them. The City needs to get out of the real estate business in my opinion.
Being that 3 of the properties are very close to our homes, I’d prefer the City hold the land and then use/build on the land in accordance with the wishes of the public/waterfront initiative. Otherwise, they could sell them to any old joe and we could end up with a walmart situation again. No thanks.
The city’s track record as a developer / builder is terrible. Unloading these properties will assist in reducing some of the debt load spent on the various follies around town. The city should concentrate on delivering city services and not be pretending to be builders, developers, utility providers and etc.
The general plan and zoning restrictions should be robust enough that the City does not have to continue doing a poor impersenation of being developer. I agree with Susan. The City needs to get out of the real estate business.