I attended today's meeting of the Redevelopment Authority to listen to Tim Rikkers of Akcess Acquisition Group provide an update on The Waterfront project. Of most concern to me is the status of possible tenants for the office building, since the entire development project depends on the office building being successful. Here's what Mr. Rikkers had to say about the status of tenants:
*He still has a signed letter of intent from a financial institution. The financial institution will occupy half of the first floor, but that is not enough square footage to break ground on the project.
*Akcess is in serious negotiation with a local law firm interested in renting space. Not surprisingly, occupancy cost is the issue under negotiation. Rikkers said that Akcess is willing to provide the law firm with an 18 month reduced occupancy rate. After 18 months, the rent would be brought to market rate. Rikkers will address the Common Council on Tuesday, and by then he wants to be able to announce that Akcess and the law firm "agree in principle" to the deal.
Redevelopment Authority member John Bermingham asked if there are negotiations going on with other potential tenants. Rikkers said what he has said many times in the past, which is that he has talked to all the major businesses in town. This time he added "if you build it they will come."
So it looks like under the best case scenario, the class A office building will open later in 2008 and feature a bank and a local law firm.
Also at the meeting, Rikkers announced that the hotel will no longer be a Country Inn & Suites (as originally proposed), but a Cambria Suites. The Cambria has a "boutique" feel. Rikkers said that a $60,000 partially refundable application fee has been paid to Cambria. The Cambria Hotel will have its own restaurant, but the featured eatery will be a Montreal Bread Company franchise (they've got some cool jazz on the website, which is a good sign). I may have misunderstood Rikkers, but I think he said that the hotel restaurant and the bread company will share a kitchen.
As for the "Campus Continuum" plan to build condos on the site, Rikkers said "no one is building condos right now" and so this will have to wait. (Isn't it kind of chilling to consider that the city came this close to breaking ground on the Five Rivers Resort only a couple of years ago?)
As noted, Rikkers will update the common council on Tuesday. Do you have any questions you would like the council to ask him? Post them here or email me at tony@tonypalmeri.com
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3 comments:
If you build it, they will come... belongs more in fantasy movies than in real life.
As we've seen on Main Street in the Spanish motif complex - if you build it and: 1. there isn't a need and 2. you charge too much, you then end up with a vacant store front / office / etc.
Then again, maybe I just can't see the ghosts yet.
Why would it be surprising that this law firm would wait out a deadline so it could negotiate the best deal from a position of power?
I'd suspect there's more than one business holding out on lease agreements right now. It's a renter's market.
No surprises at all, but quite opposite to what was promised to the community and council many months ago. Back then, we were told that businesses would be coming forward immediately after the project was approved. At the Redevelopment Authority meeting it almost seemed as if Akcess was now in the position of having to beg a business to move in so that the project would have a chance to succeed. Let's hope Rikkers is correct in asserting that when they build it, others will come. It would really suck to be stuck with an empty building on the waterfront.
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