Finance Committee signs off on terms to buy 1341 State St.; agrees to cost‑sharing, caps and staff follow‑up

The Finance Committee on July 29 advanced a purchase‑and‑sale agreement that would let the City of Green Bay acquire 1341 State Street from Hoban Real Estate LLC, adopt a leaseback with the seller and share the cost of additional environmental testing tied to a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) case.

Bill Holden, who identified himself as a property representative for 1341 South State Street, and a Hoban Real Estate representative, Mr. Hogan, participated in the discussion. City staff summarized the documents: a purchase‑and‑sale agreement, a leaseback allowing Hoban to continue limited operations during a wind‑down period, and an environmental addendum addressing phase‑2 assessment work and potential DNR requirements.

Staff said Stantec (the environmental consultant) estimated probable additional investigation and lab costs and that prior grant work had already funded roughly $90,000 of assessment effort at the site. Stantec’s preliminary projection to complete the work and seek a closure letter from the DNR ranged up to about $95,000; city legal and finance staff proposed a compromise in which the city and the seller split additional testing expenses but with the city’s share capped. Committee members amended the cap upward during the meeting.

After back‑and‑forth with the seller’s representatives, the committee approved an amendment to raise the city’s capped share to $75,000 (city share = 50% up to $75,000), and approved adding a $2,000 closing‑cost contribution the city would pay. The committee also agreed to a related amendment that commits the city and the seller to split future testing costs 50/50 up to the cap; if costs exceed the cap the committee asked staff to return to discuss options.

City staff said the proposed purchase price and related financing had been structured to allow an exchange tied to Hoban’s development at another site; the transaction structure includes a $571,000 promissory note referenced in earlier development agreements. Staff also fielded questions about whether the city would become responsible for remediation obligations if the sale failed; the committee declined seller requests to remove all caps and instead approved the 50/50 cost share with the $75,000 cap and the $2,000 closing contribution.

Separately, the seller asked for language allowing the company to leave behind personal property and heavy forging equipment. City staff said the city’s preference is to receive an emptied site, or at least to identify any remaining equipment and a budgeted approach to removal. Committee members directed staff to continue negotiating detailed lease surrender language and to explore an option to use accumulated lease payments (rent the tenant will make during the leaseback) to help offset costs of removing remaining equipment if doing so advances early site cleanup. Staff will return final language to the packet for the next council meeting.

Committee members made several procedural motions to incorporate the amendments, refer the revised documents back to staff for final drafting and place the matter on the next council agenda with the adopted amendments. With those directions the committee moved the transaction forward for council consideration.