Tim Merkel was elected as the new chairman of the Chelsea Downtown Development Authority board on Thursday, Nov. 16, while Jennifer Fairfield was chosen as vice chairman, Kathy Finger as treasurer and Bill O’Reilly as secretary.
In the future, there will be a city staff recording secretary for the board.
The DDA also voted to amend its budget and include $5,000 for Chelsea Area Festivals and Events, the committee that organizes events such as Sounds and Sights on Thursday Nights and Hometown Holiday.
It was announced that the Rockwell Building was recently purchased by Norfolk Development Company and it’s expected that the building will be turned into condos with construction likely to begin within a year.
City Manager John Hanifan also updated the DDA board on both the Mack Building redevelopment project and the Palmer event space project.
Hanifan told the board that developer Joe Ziolkowski was meeting with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) on Nov. 16 to determine if the state agency would release more funding for the Longworth redevelopment project because the bids came in “on the high side.”
Because of the high bids, “his (Ziolkowski’s) proforma doesn’t work and he’s meeting with the MEDC hoping to get additional funds,” Hanifan said.
This redevelopment project is a tri-party agreement (between the DDA, the developer and the state) and although it’s being driven by the private developer, he must adhere to “Davis-Bacon wages,” because of federal funding, Hanifan said.
It’s expected that the developer will meet with the DDA board in December to update them on his progress.
Work on the Palmer event space continues, Hanifan said. The building foundation has been poured and the contractor is about to start on the masonry. The underground work is mostly complete.
The DDA is still discussing what to name the space and a conceptual drawing can be found http://city-chelsea.org/Portals/0/Website%20Content/DDA/Architecture.pdf if residents have ideas they’d like to share. Please keep in mind that the space is not considered a park, rather a commons or a community gathering space.
To view the meeting, click here.
