Commuinity Development Authority MINUTES - 10/25/2004
CITY OF MUSKEGO Approved 11/18/04
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (CDA) Audio recording of meeting
MINUTES is also available.
Monday, October 25, 2004
CDA Chairman Frank Waltz called the meeting of the Community Development Authority to order
at 7:01 p.m.
Those in attendance recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
The meeting was posted in accordance with the Open Meeting Law.
PRESENT: Commissioners Rob Glazier, David Lidbury, Suzi Link, Gail Miles (7:15 p.m.) Frank
Waltz, Ald. Schroeder and Ald. Nancy Salentine
Also in attendance were Mayor Slocomb, Finance Director Dawn Gunderson, Interim Plan Director
Jeff Muenkel, Ald. Neil Borgman and Attorney Dick Frederick
GUESTS: 5
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
October 4, 2004
Ald. Salentine moved to accept the minutes for the October 4, 2004 meeting of the CDA. Ald.
Schroeder seconded. Upon a voice vote, the motion carried unanimously.
OLD BUSINESS
Motion regarding Staff contacting Beacon Square Dev. Team
Chairman Waltz summarized that at the last meeting one of the motions directed city staff to go
back and work with the developers, following up on the motions that were passed at the last
meeting regarding the Beacon Square proposal. City staff did make contact with the managing
member, Mr. Jorgenson, on what future plans he had given the circumstances at the last meeting.
Mr. Jorgenson responded with a letter stating it was not economically feasible for them to further
pursue the development.
In addition, Attorney Frederick, attorney for the landowner, contacted the city and last week,
presented proposals and those proposals were documented on Friday and distributed to the CDA
commissioners.
NEW BUSINESS
Contacts with the Attorney for the Beacon Square Development Landowner
CDA Minutes October 25, 2004 - page 2
Attorney Frederick reviewed for the commissioners the information provided last Friday on the
developer and landowner’s position in regard to the Beacon Square development. At the last
meeting, the commissioners asked if the property was for sale to the city and if so, at what price?
He met with the owners of Parkland Mall and his letter, dated October 22, 2004, reflects their
response to the inquiry. He made reference to the letter from Mr. Jorgensen and VJS Development
Group’s decision not to pursue the development. Attorney Frederick believed that if the city would
accept their plan, with the financial incentive they had requested, they would reconsider their
decision.
Attorney Frederick was present to convey an offer to sell the property to the city for $5,709,000. He
explained how they arrived at this figure. This explanation is outlined in his letter to Mr. Frank
Waltz dated October 22, 2004. Commissioners received a copy of this letter and a copy is also
attached to these minutes. There were several challenges to the Nicholson appraisal. A
significant challenge was the appraisal did not break the development down into residential and
into commercial components. It didn’t make sense to value the property as commercial when it
has a three-acre component that is residential. They also took exception to the lack of a statistical
analysis of floor area ratio. Further, they disagreed with some of the comparables used by the
appraisal—Kohl’s which he believed was not a frontage lot, lesser zoning and had no residential
component; Target store site comparable is too old as values of commercial properties have
increased dramatically in the last few years; Menard’s store site in Northridge which is in a
depressed area and has a significant crime rate. Attorney Frederick summarized three challenges
to the Nicholson appraisal: 1. The appraiser did not take into account any increment in value due to
the much larger floor area ratio which is essentially the density factor of the development; 2. The
appraiser did not take into account the specific residential component; 3. The appraiser did not
take into account time adjusting the comparables and bringing them forward at a reasonable
appreciation rate. He added that the developer had retained the services of Jerome Chucka to
review the Nicholson appraisal. Mr. Chucka had preliminarily opined that the property was worth
no less than $5,709,000 based on the comparables provided in the Nicholson appraisal. Attorney
Frederick further stated that the offer to sell to the City of Muskego and the price is available now
with a closing date no later than December 31, 2004.
Commissioner Link inquired if the numbers included or excluded the north residential house and
the St. Francis property? Attorney Frederick said they did not include those properties. They just
compared the parcels they control. In reference to the Kohl’s issue, she believed that the plan that
Beacon Square presented to the CDA members had a maximum of two ingress and egress points
as developed. She deferred to Interim Director Muenkel and he confirmed it, one from Janesville
and one from Lannon. Therefore, she did not think that the Kohl’s property could be discounted as
readily as a comparable. Attorney Frederick said his presentation was based on information
provided to him. The Kohl’s property sits way back and is not a frontage parcel and frontage
parcels bring in more money than not.
Chairman Waltz recapped briefly the items before the CDA--Mr. Jorgensen’s letter and Attorney
Frederick’s letter. He asked for comments from the members. Commissioner Link stated they
needed to have their appraiser take a look at the document from Attorney Frederick, analyze it and
give feedback on the contents of the merits or factual corrections that need to be addressed in that
letter. She continued, that she was extremely frustrated to find themselves in the same place they
were last November. The CDA needs to be going forward, however they want to do it, to approach
CDA Minutes October 25, 2004 - page 3
it on multiple fronts because the CDA has spent too much time accomplishing nothing.
Commissioner Glazer agreed with Commissioner Link. He would like to hear some comment from
the Nicholson group as far as point by point how they would rebut this as he was not qualified to
rebut Attorney Frederick’s comments. He was not surprised that the CDA was looking at the gap
and he would like to hear from the CDA’s appraiser. He would like to move things forward as
quickly as possible. Ald. Salentine commented that she would like the CDA to meet more often
especially with the timeline presented. Further, in order to do a condemnation process, which
would be a friendly condemnation with the sale, the CDA needs to bring forward a resolution of
necessity to at least say the CDA is interested. For Commissioner Link, Ald. Salentine clarified that
a resolution of necessity is the first step in obtaining property by a governmental body. Chairman
Waltz surmised that the selling price for the property exceeds the amount of the present value of
the incremental tax that is proposed for the development that had been proposed by Beacon
Square LLC. If the CDA were to purchase the property, then with a different development,
obviously the value of the incremental tax would be a different number. The present development
would not support this money so other alternatives would have to be considered if this were to be
the purchase price. Commissioner Link moved to have city staff follow up on both the
appraisal and to come forward with suggestions and alternatives that exist for the city
including the resolution of necessity as one of the alternatives. Commissioner Rob Glazier
seconded. Commissioner Link said the CDA could only direct staff to give feedback on what the
CDA can do. Should we include a component that the resolution suggesting that comparable
analysis be provided to the city, or be initiated for the city? It should not be to assume that the CDA
is the only entity that can be a player because that might be limiting the options. Chairman Waltz
said that for clarity, he assumed that whatever city staff and consultants involved might bring into
this is that that information is available to everyone. Commissioner Link stated that the CDA could
do things that the city can’t and vice versa. Chairman Waltz agreed that all options should be
identified. Upon a voice vote, the motion carried.
PUBLIC INPUT--None
NEXT MEETING: The next meeting was scheduled for Thursday, November 18, 7:00 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business, Commissioner Link moved for adjournment, seconded by Ald.
Salentine. Upon a voice vote, the motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 7:38 p.m.
Stella Dunahee, CPS
Recording Secretary
CDA Minutes October 25, 2004 - page 4
RICHARD A. FREDERICK
A ttorney at L aw
A DMITTED IN WI AND IL
1840 NORTH FARWELL AVENUE -
SUITE 301
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN 53202
TELEPHONE (414) 271-7779
FACSIMILE (414) 226-9985
EMAIL
richardafrederick@sbcglobal.net
October 22, 2004
Mr. Frank Waltz, Chairman
Community Development Authority
C ITY OF M USKEGO
W182 S8200 Racine Avenue
Muskego, WI 53150-0749
Re: Parkland Venture LLC / Beacon Square
Parkland Mall
Dear Mr. Waltz:
At the October 4, 2004 Community Development Authority meeting, certain members of
the Committee requested a proposal from the owner of the Parkland Mall property as to the price at
which it would sell the property to the City of Muskego. Currently the property is not being
marketed for sale. As you know, the Parkland Mall property is a “target acquisition essential to the
1
implementation of the Redevelopment Plan”. Accordingly, Parkland Venture LLC submits the
proposal hereinafter set forth.
Attached is a letter from David Jorgensen providing written confirmation that they are
withdrawing as a prospective participant in the Parkland development at this time. Parkland
Venture, on the other hand, expresses that it is still willing to go forward with the development in
the unlikely circumstances that the City agrees to the developer terms and conditions previously
presented to the CDA.
The starting point of the valuation process is the June 7, 2004 appraisal by The Nicholson
Group LLC. commissioned by the CDA The appraisal sets forth a value of the parcel owned by
2
Parkland Venture LLC at $3,965,000.
The Nicholson appraisal is a comparable property appraisal and, thus, the only analysis
1
City of Muskego Redevelopment District #2 Project Plan. page 52.
2
The appraiser uses a range of $8 - $9 per square foot. Using $9 at the upper end of this
range yields a value of $4,218,350. Note that the appraiser on page three indicated that the current
development included 104 residential units rather than the 108 units the property has been approved for.
This would increase the value by $20,000 times four units or $80,000. Thus, correcting this error indicates
a value of $4,045,000.
CDA Minutes October 25, 2004 - page 5
made was comparing the Parkland parcel to other comparable commercial property sales. It is
with the analysis of these comparable property sales to which Parkland takes exception. The
Nicholson appraiser set out nine comparable parcels in his analysis which Parkland will address:
1. Walgreens site assemblage: The Nicholson appraiser sets forth a May, 2003 sale of
this 4.42 parcel at $8.57 per square foot (“PSF”). The Nicholson appraiser then
adjusts the price forward with a 5% appreciation factor yielding a $9.04 PSF time
adjusted price. However, the appreciation rate in Muskego during calendar year 2003
was 18%. Even averaging the two prior years’ appreciation rates of 18% and 3%
3
yields a conservative average appreciation rate of 10.5%. Thus, carrying the price
forward at 10.5% through December 31, 2004 (20 months) yields a time adjusted price
PSF of $10.07.
2. Jetz Convenience Store site: This comparable property sale, which took place in
August of 2003, is set forth by the Nicholson appraiser at $10.13 PSF. Using the prior
two years’ average appreciation rate of 10.5% to adjust this price for 17 months
through December 31, 2004 yields a price per square foot of $11.64.
3. Aldi’s Grocery Store site: This comparable property sale, which took place in
February of 2003, is set forth by the Nicholson appraiser at $10.08 PSF. Using the
prior two years’ average appreciation rate of 10.5% to adjust this price for 23 months
through December 31, 2004 yields a price per square foot of $12.11.
4. M&I Bank site: This comparable property sale, which took place in February of 2003,
is set forth by the Nicholson appraiser at $10.85 PSF. Using the prior two years’
average appreciation rate of 10.5% to adjust this price for 23 months through
December 31, 2004 yields a price per square foot of $13.03.
5. Kohl’s Department Store site: This comparable property sale, which took place in
March of 2002, is set forth by the Nicholson appraiser at $4.03 PSF. This parcel is not
a good comparable since it has no directly accessed frontage and is only accessed by
two roads, one of which is 250 feet long and the other is 270 feet long. It has lesser
zoning and has no high density residential component. The Parkland parcel has four
direct and one indirect access points. The Nicholson appraiser did not adjust this PSF
for its location in his calculations.
6. Village Square Shopping Center site: Parkland believes the Nicholson appraiser’s
analysis of this site at a time adjusted square foot price of $10.57 to be appropriate.
7. Target Store site: Parkland believes that this sale is too old to be of any comparable
values considering the great increase in real estate values in the last several years. In
addition, this site has lesser zoning and no residential component. Thus, this is not an
appropriate comparable.
3
See Wisconsin Department of Revenue Statement of Changes in Equalized Values by
Class and Item for Muskego, Wisconsin for 2003 and 2004 which is attached.
CDA Minutes October 25, 2004 - page 6
8. Menards Store site: Parkland believes this site not to be an adequate comparable
since the Brown Deer location is one which has had significant economic declines.
This site is on the Northridge Mall property. Northridge Mall suffered significant
reverses in the last several years, as did other business on Brown Deer Road.
Northridge Mall was closed and partially demolished and many existing businesses left
the market. Brown Deer Road has a very high commercial vacancy rate and is near
one of the highest crime areas in the metropolitan Milwaukee area. The entire 104
acre parcel, excluding only anchor tenants, was purchased for 3.5 million dollars in
2001. ($33,654 per acre versus approximately $376,000 per acre for Parkland’s
parcel according to the Nicholson appraisal). Thus, a lower price in this depressed
area would be expected. It is not comparable to the location of the highly desirable
area in which the subject property is located. Muskego is one of the fastest growing
areas in the State of Wisconsin. Therefore, this is not an appropriate comparable.
9. Germantown Plaza site: This site, according to the developer of this site, is a
secondary market parcel. It is not a prime location like the Parkland property.
Therefore, this is not an appropriate comparable.
With respect to the comparables numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 to which Parkland agrees are
appropriate comparables, the time adjusted price used in The Nicholson appraisal is compared
with the more appropriate appreciation rate of 10.5% for Muskego below:
Comparable Appraiser Appraiser’s Price
Number Time Adjusted PSF @ 5% PSF using 10% Appre ciation
to 6/04 through 12/31/04
1. $ 9.04 $10.07
2. $10.53 $11.64
3. $10.74 $12.11
4. $11.56 $13.03
6. $10.57 $10.57
Totals: $52.44 $57.42
Average PSF $10.49 $11.48
There is an 9.4% difference between $10.49 and $11.48. Thus, even using the appraiser’s
4
PSF should yield at least an 9.4% higher value of $4,425,230. Using the appraiser’s comparables
to which Parkland agrees and adjusting them for the more appropriate 10% appreciation factor as
demonstrated above yields $11.48 average PSF. This demonstrates a value of $5,380,740.
A separate and more appropriate approach to this appraisal process not explored by the
Nicholson appraisal is to analyze the two components of the approved development separately.
The first is the residential component of 108 units and the second is the commercial development.
The Nicholson appraiser simply used comparable property sales which are 100% commercial. No
4
The starting point for the 9.4% adjustment is the $3,965,000 appraisal amount plus the
$80,000 increase to account for 108 versus 104 residential units.
CDA Minutes October 25, 2004 - page 7
comparable was provided for the residential component of the development. This failure is a
serious flaw in the analysis. Using comparable sales of residential properties yields a PSF value of
$16.50, double that provided in the Nicholson appraisal. These components should be appraised
separately. The residential component occupies approximately three acres. That leaves 7.76
acres of commercial property. Properties for comparable residential projects are priced at in
excess of $20,000 per unit. Taking a lower $20,000 per unit number yields a value for the
residential component of $2,160,000. The commercial component utilizing the appraiser’s square
foot value of $8.46 yields a value to the commercial component of $2,859,696. Utilizing the
developer’s view of the appropriate price PSF based upon the developer’s analysis of comparable
commercial properties of $11.48 PSF above yields a value of $3,880,534. Thus, using this
approach valuing the apartment development at $2,160,000 and applying the Nicholson
appraiser’s square footage value for the commercial portion yields a total value of $5,019,695.
Utilizing the developer’s version of the square footage value for the commercial parcel and then
adding the residential component yields a value of $6,040,534.
Parkland also takes exception to the lack of a statistical analysis of floor area ratio (“FAR”).
The appraiser failed to develop an increment in value due to the approved greatly higher FAR for
the Parkland parcel. The FAR of the eight comparable properties submitted by the appraiser
having a FAR calculation average of .19. The Parkland site’s FAR for the currently approved
Developer’s plan is .64, 340% greater than the average comparable provided in the Nicholson
appraisal. The appraiser added no value for this fact.
The main analytical component of the Nicholson appraisal to which Parkland takes
exception is the process by which the appraiser picked a value of Parkland at $8.46 PSF. This
number was picked notwithstanding an average of the true comparables of $11.48 for commercial
property and notwithstanding the 340% greater FAR value above. Using Parkland’s PSF value of
$11.48 for the commercial component and $20,000 per unit for the residential component would
indicate a value of $6,040,534 as demonstrated above.
The Common Council of the City of Muskego on August 22, 2000 adopted City of Muskego
TID No. 8. It appears that no consideration was given in the Nicholson appraisal for any increase
in value for a total over $1,500,000 for the existing developer incentives in the amount of $856,000
or other infrastructure improvements of $666,000 totaling $1,500,000. My client spent a
considerable amount of time and money in securing this in place grant / funding for the project.
The developer has retained the services of Jerome Chucka to review the Nicholson
appraisal. Mr. Chucka was the appraiser who originally appraised the Parkland Mall for the City of
Muskego. After reviewing the Nicholson appraisal as well as the information provided herein, Mr.
Chucka has preliminarily opined that the property is worth no less than $5,709,000 based on the
comparables provided in the Nicholson appraisal. Mr. Chucka also indicated that there are recent
comparables of greater value which have not been taken into consideration in the Nicholson
appraisal. Mr. Chucka’s valuation is based upon $20,000 per unit for the residential component for
a total of $2,160,000 and $10.50 PSF for the commercial portion of the property yielding
$3,549,000.
Mr. Chucka related that his $10.50 PSF commercial valuation does not include any
consideration of add on value for existing TID #8. He further opined that there may exist such an
CDA Minutes October 25, 2004 - page 8
add on value over and above the $10.50 per square foot valuation. However, he has not defined
the added value at this time.
The foregoing range of values is from $4,045,000 to $6,013,492. The owner hereby offers
to sell the property to the City of Muskego for $5,709,000, the value suggested by the reviewing
appraiser, Jerome Chucka. This offer to sell at this price is contingent upon a closing no later than
December 31, 2004.
Sincerely yours,
RICHARD A. FREDERICK
RAF/ss
Attachments
cc w/attachments: Mr. David Jorgensen
Mayor Mark Slocomb
James Baxter Esq.
Mr. Jerome Chucka