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HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/13/2004AGENDA MAPLEWOOD HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY TUESDAY, July 13, 2004 7:00 P.M. CITY HALL MAPLEWOOD ROOM 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Minutes a. March 18, 2003 4. Approval of Agenda 5. Communications a. 2004 Annual Tour- Wednesday, August 11, 2004 6. Unfinished Business None 7. New Business a. Tax-Exempt Financing Request -Concordia Arms (2030 Lydia Avenue) 8. Oate of Next Meeting 9. Adjournment MINUTES OF THE MAPLEWOOD HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY 1830 COUNTY ROAD B EAST, MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2004 7:00 P.M. CITY HALL I. CALL TO ORDER CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS Chairperson Fischer called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Commissioner Tom Connelly Present Commissioner Lorraine Fischer Present Commissioner Joe O'Brien Present Commissioner Gary Pearson Absent Commissioner Beth Ulrich Present Staff Present: III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Ken Roberts, Planner Lisa Kroll, Recording Secretary Approval of the HRA minutes for March 18, 2003. Chairperson Fischer gave the recording secretary a clarification to the minutes on page 7 in the last paragraph. Commissioner Connelly moved to approve the minutes as amended. Commissioner O'Brien seconded. The motion carried. IV. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Ayes -Fischer, O'Brien, Abstention -Connelly, Ulrich Mr. Roberts requested the addition of the Election of an HRA secretary under New Business. He would also recommend switching item VII. New Business fortheTax-Exempt Financing Request for Concordia Arms with number V. Chairperson Fischer requested that Mr. Roberts give an update regarding items listed in the March 18, 2003, HRA minutes and discuss them item VI. Communications. Commissioner O'Brien moved to approve the agenda as amended. Commissioner Connelly seconded. Ayes -Connelly, Fischer, O'Brien, Ulrich The motion carried. Housing and Redevelopment Authority -2- Minutes of 07-13-04 V. NEW BUSINESS a. Tax-Exempt Financing Request -Concordia Arms (2030 Lydia Avenue) Mr. Roberts said the Amherst Wilder Foundation, representing Concordia Arms, is requesting that the city give final approval for up $7.0 million tax-exempt revenue note financing. They would use this financing to pay off an existing mortgage and to cover the costs of proposed capital projects to the existing building. Concordia Arms is a 125-unit senior housing apartment building that is located at 2030 Lydia Avenue. The applicant is requesting that the city approve this financing so the bond interest would be tax-exempt. The state and federal governments require local government approval of tax-exempt financing. Commissioner Connelly asked what the loan balance was and what the money would be used for? Mr. Eric Lundy with Piper Jaffrey addressed the commission. Piper Jaffrey is the financial advisor for Concordia Arms Senior Housing building. He said the loan would pay off the existing loan amount and for improvements to the building. Commissioner O'Brien asked if there were age restrictions for residents to live in the Concordia Arms apartments? Mr. Lundy said it is age restricted and income restricted for the section 8 contract that the building has with the federal government for rent subsidies. Chairperson Fischer said originally the section 8 rules were such that people could live there if they were over the income limit but then they changed section 8. She asked if Concordia Arms could have residents over the income level? Ms. Jenny Boulton with Briggs and Morgan, 2200 First National Bank Building, 332 Minnesota Street, St. Paul, addressed the commission. She said she was not sure about that. Concordia Arms has ongoing amendments to their contract and those relate to the rents that they can charge. Mr. Lundy said on an annual basis Concordia Arms apartments submits budgets to HUD and gets rent adjustments for inflationary costs but there won't be any adjustments as a part of this agreement. The interest rate will drop in half and restructuring the debt so the payments are going to go down therefore, they don't need to increase the rent to pay the debt service on the loan. Commissioner Connelly asked if Concordia Arms had tax exempt financing on the original loan? Mr. Lundy said no it was a direct HUD loan so there was no city involvement. He said the reason they are going through the HRA instead of through the city is to get bank-qualified bonds, which allow them to sell participations in atax-exempt mortgage to local financial institutes. Commissioner O'Brien asked if there was a formal bid process that Concordia Arms has to go through? Housing and Redevelopment Authority -3- Minutes of 07-13-04 Mr. Lundy said yes there is a formal bid process. In reality the loan will be closer to $5.5 million dollars instead of $7.0 million dollars. Ms. Boulton said this is a loan where the city is involved in order to help the non-profit borrower get a tax exempt interest rate which helps them reduce their interest costs but the city does not handle any of the money it will be the bank that buys the loan and will loan the money directly to the non-profit borrower. Chairperson Fischer asked if this was already approved by the city council and if a public hearing was held? Mr. Roberts said yes this was approved last November 2003, by the city council. Commissioner O'Brien asked if there would be more than 125 units after rehab? Mr. Lundy said they are not changing the footprint of the building the rehab would only be for the exterior of the building and the interior of the building and the number of units would remain 125. Commissioner Connelly moved to approve the resolution starting on page ten in the staff report. This approves Maplewood giving approval for up to $7.0 million intax-exempt revenue financing for Concordia Arms at 2030 Lydia Avenue. Commissioner Ulrich seconded. Ayes -Connelly, Fischer, O'Brien, Ulrich The motion passed. VI. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. VII. COMMUNICATIONS a. 2004 Annual Tour -Wednesday, August 11, 2004. Mr. Roberts reminded the HRA members of the upcoming annual tour and asked which HRA members would be available to attend the tour on Wednesday, August 11, 2004. Beth Ulrich said she was unable to attend and Joe O'Brien was unsure at this time. Tom Connelly and Lorraine Fischer would be attending and Gary Pearson was absent from the meeting. b. Status of Hillcrest Village, Maplewood Larpenteur Avenue and Adolphus Redevelopment Plan, Gladstone Area, Van Dyke Village Town House Development, and Emma's Place. Mr. Roberts updated the HRA commissioners on the above listed areas in Maplewood. These areas were discussed at the last HRA meeting on March 18, 2003. Chairperson Fischer had asked Mr. Roberts to briefly update commissioners on the status of the discussion areas. Housing and Redevelopment Authority -4- Minutes of 07-13-04 c. Election of HRA Secretary Mr. Roberts said he checked the HRA records going back to 2001, and couldn't find the person listed as the HRA secretary, therefore, he asked the commission to nominate an HRA memberto the secretary position. Chairperson Fischer said she believed the last person that left the HRA was the HRA secretary and either Joe O'Brien or Beth Ulrich filled the opening and a new secretary was never nominated. Commissioner Connelly said he wouldn't be interested in the position because he is out of the state for the winter. He would recommend that the person filling the HRA secretary position should be someone who is here more often. Commissioner O'Brien said because it could be a conflict of interest with his current position in the housing industry he would not be interested in the position. Commissioner Connelly asked Beth Ulrich if she would be willing to serve as HRA secretary if it was not a conflict of interest in her position? Commissioner Ulrich agreed to accept the position as HRA secretary. Commissioner Connelly nominated Beth Ulrich to position of HRA Secretary. Commissioner O'Brien seconded. Ayes -Connelly, Fischer, O'Brien, Ulrich The motion passed. VIII. DATE OF NEXT MEETING Because there are no future items to review at this time, therefore, there is no scheduled date for the next HRA meeting. Mr. Roberts said, as items come up he will notify the HRA commissioners. IX. ADJOURNMENT Chairperson Fischer adjourned the meeting at 7:57 p.m.