An agreement with The Silos at Marysville may herald good news for the city’s Christmas Star and other projects in the community.
Marysville City Council is in the process of approving an agreement with Connect Real Estate for The Silos at Marysville.
The Silos project will redevelop about 16.6 acres at the city’s former water treatment plant, the Heritage silo site and several other commercial properties on North Main Street.
As part of the deal, Connect is agreeing to a series of projects that would:
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Extend the Jim Simmons Trail.
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Relocate the Streng Bridge from Union Township to create a pedestrian bridge over Mill Creek from the former Crazy Scotty’s site to the site of the former water plant.
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Recreate the streetscape on North Main Street.
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Repair and repaint the Heritage Solos.
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Replace the Christmas Star that for years sat atop the silos.
City Manager Terry Emery said the project will “help extend the vibrancy and what people already know as part of the Uptown” to the north end of the city.
“That is going to be a corridor that people are going to gravitate to and it is just exciting to be part of it,” Emery said.
He said the developments and projects going into the area over the next decade will be “transformative.”
He said the former water plant building, along with the silos and the Christmas Star that sat on top of the silos are landmarks for people in the community as well as visitors.
In December 1955, city council lit a large star on the top of one silo where it sat for decades, lit during the holiday season. Eventually, however, the star would not light and due to the structural instability of the elevator, crews were not able to get to the top of the structure to inspect or repair it.
Emery said Connect will reinstall the star or a similar feature and is planning to “keep and utilize” the silos as part of the overall project. He said he has heard ideas for the inside like a bar with a climbing wall, possible housing or an Airbnb. He said he has heard the outside of the silos could be used for projecting live events or seasonal decorations.
The extension of the Jim Simmons Trail would include the installation of a shared use path from North Main Street through the water treatment plant property and the adjacent property to Maple Street, assumed to be along Mill Creek. In addition to the path, there would be rapid flash beacons on North Main and Maple streets to help keep pedestrians cross the street safely. The extension would connect the current multi-use path that runs from Waldo Road to Main Street to the Jim Simmons Trail that starts in Schwartzkopf Park.
“I think the walkability of that entire area will be great,” Emery said.
Part of the extension would be the inclusion of the Streng Road Bridge to serve as a pedestrian bridge over Mill Creek. The 200-foot iron bridge was built in 1914 and renovated in the early 1990s. It currently crosses Big Darby Creek on Streng Road, just off Route 38.
Emery said the connectivity is especially exciting as the city is still considering the possibility of an aquatics center and skate park locating near the current Bark Park of North Maple Street.
“You know for people from other areas of town to be able to walk or ride their bike to that area, is really exciting,” Emery said.
He said the North Main Street streetscape would be improved between Fourth Street and Elwood Avenue. Emery said the look of the area would be “an extension” of the Uptown’s look, including the decorative light posts with banners and hanging flower baskets as well as sidewalks with brick inserts and crosswalks.
In effect, the project would include removing and replacing all concrete and asphalt in the area, creating pedestrian safe railroad crossing improvements and installing conduits for the future burial of the existing overhead utility lines.
There could also be a right turn lane off of North Main into the current Sakura site, depending on the results of a traffic study.
The projects will most likely be done in phases, though Emery didn’t know the exact timeline for the improvements.
The project budgets will total about $10.1 million, which includes the design as well as a contingency fund of 20%.
The agreement with Connect calls for the developer to pay for the improvement projects with the possibility of reimbursement, with interest, from a tax increment financing (TIF) fund as well as a variety of potential applicable grants.
The agreement, approved unanimously by the Marysville school board in May, includes a 30-year, 100% TIF agreement for the properties.
A TIF is an economic development tool that diverts property tax payments from things like schools, libraries, mental health and other entities that rely on property tax revenue, to a city fund to pay for projects related to that property. Connect will pay its full tax bill, but the money will go into the city’s TIF fund rather than those other entities. The city will use the TIF fund to reimburse the developer for the cost of the work, plus interest.
Finance Director Brad Lutz said that with the abatement, the TIF fund would have no money for the first 15 years because of property tax abatement on the parcels in the project.
Lutz said any projects financed with debt based on the expected TIF revenue will be structured to reflect that timing. He said that the first 15 years the city would pay “interest only or very little principal.” He explained that financing for the city’s wastewater treatment plant was structured similarly.
The project proposal includes the construction of several multi-family buildings with about 220 total apartments and a fitness center; corporate housing; restoration of the former Marysville Water Treatment Plant into 12,000 square feet of new office and hospitality space; public parking; a community arts area; construction of a 26,000 square-foot mixed-use building with a restaurant, event space, bar-arcade and outdoor gathering areas; and “repurposing” the Heritage Grain Silos into 112,000 square feet of “inviting hospitality venues, outdoor gathering spaces and a versatile event destination.”
In addition to the TIF and the abatement, the agreement includes a 50% income tax share between the school district and the city for residents, employees and businesses in the district and an annual $70,000 Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) to the school district.