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North Augusta City Council gave final approval Monday night to two ordinances enabling the construction and operation of Project Jackson, and first-reading nods to agreements on an owner’s representative and the stadium licensing agreement.
Mayor Lark Jones described the measures as coming “at the end of all the hoopla.”
The main hoopla was the Master Development Agreement, which took years to reach final approval last week.
With Ken McDowell out of town, almost all the votes Monday broke down to 5-1, with James Adams opposed.
Both third-reading items – an installment purchase transaction ordinance that enables the issuance of bonds, and creation of a Municipal Improvement District, where assessments are set to guarantee tax revenue to the city – passed on 5-1 votes.
The owner’s representative agreement details how Greenstone and the city will work together while the project is being built.
North Augusta is transforming into a live, work and play community and the Crowne Plaza Hotel, at Project Jackson, is one of the ways the city hopes to recruit newcomers to the riverfront.
North Augusta city leaders has already started laying the foundation for the future home of the Augusta GreenJackets.
Project Jackson is also creating infrastructure that was once keeping big companies from locating to South Carolina’s riverfront.
“We’ve got an 80,000 square foot building coming online,” said City Administrator Todd Glover. “We are certainly marketing to those companies.”
The multi-million dollar project includes a Crowne Plaza hotel.
The upscale chain is owned by the Intercontinental Hotel Group.
Glover says I.H.G. has contracts with the Department of Defense and hotels in military bases, including two at Fort Gordon.
“We think Crowne Plaza having a tie-in to I.H.G., obviously all those members who go to these military bases are members of their rewards program. So when they come to our area they can at a Crowne Plaza as well.” Glover told WJBF NewsChannel 6.
Seems every step in this project is a contradiction or variance of the original proposed progression, like this. I coulda swore that this first step, this first 10million, was for general site prep of the ProjectJackson, not actual construction of the ballfield. Well, that escalated right quickly, huh ? mo'money daddy !
Also, on a side note, it certainly is an unscheduled inconvenience for hammondsferry to be limited to one road in, one road out. Specially when a tree falls across that road (like it did) ! and the limited room simply for driving down there sure shows too. Thats OK for a neighborhood, I guess, but they entertain down there with small crowds and it is a sign of what traffic will be like when 'Jackson' egress is revealed.
Project Jackson’s master developer and general contractor told North Augusta City Council on Monday that they need more money, and quickly.
“… Additional project funding is required immediately to continue (on schedule) and avoid potential cost increases,” said a letter given to council by Greenstone, the master developer, and Brasfield and Gorrie, the general contractor.
“Brasfield and Gorrie was notified by Greenstone this week that the bond closing expected to occur by the end of March has been delayed and may not occur until April 24. This is delaying issuance of a full stadium contract and notice to proceed for the full contract amount by the city of North Augusta,” the letter said. “Brasfield and Gorrie cannot make the necessary funding commitments needed to continue critical path activities without an official notice to proceed, along with a firm financial commitment from the owner.”
To keep up the pace through the rest of April, Brasfield and Gorrie needs about $10 million.
The city has been trying to come up with an interim financing plan so it doesn’t have to issue bonds, which ultimately will pay for the project, until all the details on private investment are hammered out. That includes things such as the hotel and conference center owner-operator and other retail such as restaurants and shopping.
At its March 13 meeting, for example, council considered refinancing the debt on the Medac parking garage and the Municipal Center to use as a line of credit, but members weren’t able to come to agreement on the details and it was pulled from the agenda.
After meeting with the two companies’ representatives during a study session, council carried out a light agenda during its regular meeting and went into executive session to discuss how to come up with the money. State law allows public bodies to meet in private for “discussion of negotiations incident to proposed contractual arrangements and proposed sale or purchase of property, the receipt of legal advice where the legal advice relates to a pending, threatened, or potential claim or other matters covered by the attorney-client privilege. …” Mayor Lark Jones announced before the executive session began that no action would be taken Monday night.
The companies’ letter said time was of the essence.
“Please provide official notice to proceed with all work for the stadium project, including a firm financial commitment of at least $9,949,888 by close of business on (Thursday) to support the construction through May 1, 2017,” they said.
Also in study session, James Dean, of Greenstone, said grading on the site was done, footings were being poured and dugout walls would soon be going up.
“The good news is you’re just about out of the ground,” Dean said.
City Administrator Todd Glover noted that “a lot of remediation” had been required to get to this point. City officials knew “it was not a pristine site,” but were surprised by the amount of debris that was in the ground and by oil and gas left over from a business dating back to the 1950s, he said. All that dirt had to be dug out and disposed of according to environmental regulations.
“It was like a Brownfield remediation,” Glover said, referring to the term for a former industrial site where contamination is present.
In all the digging, he said, they never hit water, which had been an issue raised by some Project Jackson opponents.
Dean also gave council a view of the site through a webcam pointed toward the construction site from the 13th Street Bridge. It will go public next week, Glover said, and people will be able to watch the progress from their computers or smartphones. The camera also will take still images at regular intervals, creating a time-lapse video of the work from start to finish.
The development – also known as Project Jackson, for the town’s founder James U. Jackson – will include a hotel/conference center; first-floor retail with townhomes above; 280 luxury apartments, with 60 percent one-bedrooms; a senior living facility and an office building.
Restaurants and shops that ring the stadium will have entrances inside and outside, so they can serve people walking by as well as those attending a game. The apartments will have views into the stadium and there will be a craft brewery next to right field.
It’s designed to appeal to millennials, who prefer to live close to where they work and play, choosing to walk or cycle rather than drive.
When he talks about the project to civic clubs, City Administrator Todd Glover often references the recent opening of a new office building for Medac, a medical billing firm, which brought 400 employees to North Augusta and has promised to hire 200 more.
“They wanted to be as close as they could to Project Jackson, to help them lure a millennial work force,” Glover said in a talk last year. “They’re competing not only on salary, but also quality of life.”
The project will draw about $170 million in private investment for the city’s $61 million investment, he has said.
The project cleared several hurdles in 2016, including the opposition of a group of residents who wanted a Ballpark Village referendum included on the ballot for city elections. City leaders opposed it because all the officials on the ballot were Republicans, and their races would be decided in a primary, not a general election, which could include all or most city voters.
North Augusta City Council passed two items relating to Ballpark Village, the official name for the City's mixed-use development Project Jackson, during its meeting Monday.
Council first unanimously passed first and second reading on an ordinance approving the relocation of Railroad Avenue within Ballpark Village.
According to Council documents, as part of the overall development plan for Ballpark Village "the existing right of way for Railroad Avenue requires a minor relocation within the confines of the Ballpark Village Development."
The agenda adds that "the current terminus of Railroad Avenue at the Georgia Avenue right of way, as well as where it enters the existing Hammond's Ferry Subdivision will be unchanged."
Mayor Lark Jones said the relocation will bring the portion of the road near the Georgia Avenue bridge closer to the Municipal Center.
"We're taking the existing Railroad Avenue, where you turn under the bridge, and bringing it a little closer to this building," Jones said.
Council also passed a resolution approving a change order for Brasfield & Gorrie to continue critical pathwork related to Ballpark Village. The resolution passed 6-1, with Councilman James Adams opposing.
The change order allows work to continue on Ballpark Village and is not to exceed $9,400,000. The additional work is already funded within the Project Jackson budget and is not an extra cost to the City.
"We're slowly releasing portions of the scope of work, and that's what this is is another milestone in the scope of work," said City Administrator Todd Glover. "This is part of the natural progression of the scope of the budget."
Jones added, "When we use the term change order, these are not actually change orders ... I guess you would call it a move forward order just to continue work."
North Augusta City Council, struggling a bit to get all the Ballpark Village projects started around the same time, voted Monday night to push ahead anyway.
The final financing agreement for the hotel isn’t completed, but could be later this week. Master developer Greenstone hasn’t inked a deal with a contractor for the senior apartment complex or the financing to get it going.
Further complicating matters, the contractor for the Village’s other apartment project is ready to start work now, but they won’t begin until the city completes the bond issue that ultimately will pay its share of the entire project. That share was estimated Monday night to cost about $67.4 million. That could happen in the next couple of weeks.
City Administrator Todd Glover likened the situation to trying to do three or four house closings at the same time, all involving different contractors and lenders.
City leaders voted 6-1 to move forward and keep the overall project on schedule.
“In light of significant pending construction escalation and demobilization costs, widely anticipated increases in interest rates, and other market conditions generally prevailing as well as specific to Project Jackson, such conditions warrant proceeding expeditiously, and that the long term negative impacts of not moving forward at this time outweigh the risks of proceeding without all Funding Commitments in hand as contemplated by Section 14.01 of the Master Development Agreement,” the resolution read.
Council also built in a couple of “backstops” to make sure its revenue projections hold up.
The senior apartment complex, for example, is expected to generate $350,000 in tax revenue per year. If Greenstone were unable to deliver a completed project, it would owe the city those taxes.
If for some reason Greenstone could not pay the tax bill, the Augusta GreenJackets would pay it out of revenues from the stadium parking deck. The city and the team will share parking revenues from three decks in Ballpark Village.
it would seem that a proper drainage system would be the no. 1 and very first chore before digging out a bowl down by the river, yes ? not so with this project.
oh yeah, it flows downhill.
Last edited by burr; 04-26-2017 at 10:51 AM..
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