City takes lower redevelopment offer for 71-73 W. Chicago St.
With little comment, Coldwater City Council unanimously approved the contingent sale of 71-73 West Chicago Street to Chad Marsh for development into an entertainment bar and restaurant with upstairs apartments.
The city received a second offer from Mohamed Shahbain. He would develop the property into a Turkish café or Middle Eastern restaurant with possibly an ice cream and candy shop on the lower level. There would be three apartments on the second level.
Shahbain offered $25,000, $5,000 above Marsh's offer from a month ago. Shahbain is one of the two owners of the Kilgore building at 36 West Pearl St., since 2016.
Council members reviewed a spreadsheet from staff that compared both offers. It would need to delay acceptance of Shahbain's proposal for 30 days to comply with the city charter.
Marsh would employ 10 people, Shahbain four when in operation.
Marsh's investment was $800,000, while Shahbain would invest $425,000.
The owner of Southern Marsha Realty, Marsh planned to rebuild the facade. He redeveloped offices in Quincy and two condo buildings in St. Mary's, Ohio. Shahbain does not have prior redevelopment experience.
Shahbain operated Sahara Nights restaurant in Coldwater for three years and one in Indianapolis for three years.
Shainbain presented evidence a private investor would contribute $300,000. Marsh presented letters of interest from local banks.
Negatives listed for Shahbain were a series of 16 citations from the city for building code issues at the Kilgore Building. Staff wrote, "Mr. Shahbain appears to be delinquent on his real property taxes on the residential property owned by him on West Pearl Street. As required by the City Charter, Mr. Shahbain would have to eliminate that default to the City before the City would be able to enter into a contract with him.."
Coldwater marketed the building for four years. Staff worked to use the building as a downtown economic development incentive to recruit new businesses to the downtown. These are the first offers.
The Richard A. Kerr family donated the two-story commercial attached buildings in 2018. has The Downtown Development Authority paid $2,674.00 for the asbestos survey and $7,000 for interior asbestos abatement.
The city spent approximately $15,000 on the ongoing maintenance, including architectural drawings prepared for interested parties.
Marsh plans to apply for a Community Revitalization Grant program administered by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Like other downtown businesses, Marsh believes he will likely receive the grant funding.
The sale is contingent and will not close until Marsh receives the grant. Closing must take place within 12 months.
Marsh must start constructing the three second-floor apartment units and the restaurant and/or bar on the main floor within six months of closing the purchase. He then has 12 months to complete the work. According to the separate development agreement, he must open the businesses within six months after completion.
Shahbain looked at other locations downtown before his offer on 71-73 West Chicago.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: City takes lower first redevelopment offer for 71-73 West Chicago
