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Committee hears update on ATD acquisition and parking as downtown project moves to working group
Summary
City general counsel told the Economic Development Committee the city has made a $50,000 escrow payment on the ATD acquisition and staff are conducting title and environmental due diligence; committee members pressed for clearer parking needs and funding breakdowns for the plaza/garage work.
Bridal Smith, the city’s general counsel, told the Economic Development Committee on July 24 that the city has paid a $50,000 escrow deposit on the ATD property and is performing title searches and environmental due diligence ahead of a closing that will trigger an 18‑month leaseback to ATD.
"We've got a $50,000 escrow payment, which we've been able to take care of," Smith said, and added that the due‑diligence work is underway. She described that closing would start an 18‑month leaseback period to ATD that aligns with the city’s timeline for design, outreach and construction.
The project remains organized in two phases: phase one is a public project for the plaza and park and associated public infrastructure; phase two is the private development that would be built over air rights sold to the developer. Smith described phase one as a roughly $26,400,000 construction project for the park and plaza and said funding is expected to come from multiple sources discussed with the committee.
Committee members focused on the parking garage as the critical dependency for the private development. Smith told the committee that the developer will lease needed parking from the city and that the city must determine parking demand based on the final development program. She warned that the developer’s RFP responses and illustrative renderings are not binding "pretty pictures" and that the working group must flesh out what the private development will ultimately require.
On costs, staff gave preliminary figures to frame the scale of the garage: a rough industry estimate of about $50,000 per underground parking space and a near‑term ballpark of $25M–$30M to build an underground garage at several hundred spaces. Smith and other staff also noted potential constraints and external approvals—zoning variances, coordination with the Department of Transportation and railroad clearances for air rights and any pedestrian bridge crossing.
City staff said they have resumed working‑group meetings and listed participants including the city legal team, department heads for development, Spectra representatives and outside design consultants. The working group meets as a staff level group and is not producing FOIA‑subject minutes; staff said meetings will likely be biweekly as work ramps up.
The committee did not take formal action on the development itself but asked staff to return with a detailed funding breakout and clearer parking‑demand assumptions at a future meeting.
