ACTION REQUESTED:
Title
Communication from the City Manager and Corporation Counsel with a Request to Authorize the City Manager to Enter into an EARLY WORK LOAN AGREEMENT, in an Amount Not to Exceed $3,000,000.00, for the Construction of the LOUISVILLE SLUGGER SPORTS COMPLEX SPECIAL SERVICE AREAS.
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BACKGROUND: Representatives of Twenty Four Corporation LLC (TFC), the developer of the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex, are actively pursuing construction and permanent financing for the Complex. TFC also purchased the property this summer for $3 million. As of this date, the financing for the Complex has not been fully secured. The developer is confident that financing will be available for the project in the next 90 to 120 days.
Groundbreaking has already taken place on the project. TFC is very interested in getting the ball field portion of the Complex open by June 1, 2015. The dome portion of the project would follow later in 2015. In order to meet this aggressive timetable, the developer has had to begin site work and preorder the turf for the ball fields. To keep the project on a timetable for completion in 2015, the developer has been discussing an Early Work Agreement with the City.
The attached Early Work Agreement would be a loan, in the amount of $3 million, which would allow the site work undertaken this fall and the ordering of the turf to be paid. The loan would be secured by a first position for the city on the entire 50.55 acres, and a personal guaranty of the developer, Mark Petersen. The interest rate on the loan would be 4%, and it would be due in full by December 31, 2015. Morton Community Bank currently has a note on the land in the amount of $856,552. The Bank has agreed to remove its first position on the property with the execution of the Early Work Agreement.
City staff has negotiated several other conditions as part of the Early Work Agreement that will clarify and further define the City's obligations under the Fir...
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