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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 1991 0220 CC REG ITEM 11A M2.100(g) x - FEB 15 '91 15:008 CHICAGO/EMBASSY P.2/3 -ORNIA j • ..3nng 2() 1991 THEpec February 14, 1991 AC .,.. i • EMBASSY GKOUP B, �.5omar,"Airy/ INC Patrick Richards -VIA FACSIMILE- CITY OF MOORPARK 799 Moorpark Avenue • Moorpark, CA 93021 Re: Peach Hill Plaza • Request for Six Month Extension Dear Pat: We were finally able to meet with our lender, Citicorp Real Estate, this week. After going through the status of the project in detail, Citicorp concluded that it would not be willing to renew our loan commitment and fund the construction unless we were willing to commit substantial additional funds to the project . After careful discussion within the partnership, we have decided that we cannot proceed with this project . While we will sustain a significant loss on this project ( four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars) , there is greater risk associated with building the project under these new conditions. The key problem is the tremendous public improvement costs that the City is requiring us to bear. The estimated costs of these improvements is over 10% of our estimated $8. 8 million project cost . This , coupled with the delays we faced in getting the project approved, effectively terminating any possibility of profit . At the same time, we would like to petition the City Council for a long term extension of the Development Agreement. We are looking for a three to four year extension of the Agreement . While this may seem to be a contradiction, we believe this action could significantly benefit both the City and ourselves. We are discussing a plan for the lender to take back the property. The lender feels strongly that the heavy burden of installing public improvements is unreasonable. Its position will be to allow the entitlements to expire, hold the property until other developers ( i . e. Carlsberg, etc. ) build the necessary improvements and then obtain new entitlements . Since the bank has the resources to sit and wait , this line of action would take years and the property would sit vacant until something is done. 810 SGuth FiOuerca Scree' Sue• 9u9 1m anr,e!es,CA&+Y)17 213•622 3526 • • FEB 15 '91 15:09 CHICAGO/EMBASSY P.3/3 .+ h If we are granted a long term extension of the Development Agreement, the City can realize several benefits . First , the lender may be able to attract another developer to finish the project under the terms and conditions of the Agreement since the project is close to obtaining building permits . Instead of a vacant site, this site could be developed within the next few years. Secondly, an extension would lock in the items which • have been already agreed to. The time and energy which both we and the City have spent in creating an acceptable 1 project would not be lost. The public improvements as well as the design elements (courtyard, waterfall , etc. ) would be transferred with the property. The negative side to this discussion is that neither we nor the lender will be willing to pay any monies towards public improvements at this time. Of course in the event the approvals are allowed to expire, not only will no money be paid, the agreement to install the public improvements will also be terminated. The extension should be given in the hope that the project will proceed as approved. Otherwise, as unentitled land in today' s economy, this site will sit empty for the foreseeable future. With an extension, Citicorp may also be willing to free us from personal guarantees related to the project which would cause us further financial hardship. We have given our best effort to try to put this project together in the face of tremendous adversity and would like to see that our efforts have not been totally wasted. We believe that there is nothing to lose by granting this extension and the City could still reap substantial benefits if the project is developed. We will be at the City Council meeting on February 20th and look forward to seeing you there. Please contact us if you have any questions. Sincerely, j6414:#14 Kenneth Shishido