Posted: 7:00 a.m.
Monday, Dec. 22, 2014
Middletown community group
raising funds to invest in city development
By http://www.journal-news.com/staff/chelsey-levingston/" rel="nofollow - - Ed Richter
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN —
The community group Middletown Moving
Forward recently obtained nonprofit status and is now raising money from donors
to create a loan fund for investing in key city revitalization projects.
The efforts will make the organization a
bigger player in local development, its leaders say. Gap financing from
Middletown Moving Forward, coupled with a downpayment and private bank loan can
help developers raise the capital they need to make job-creating investments
such as renovating empty buildings.
The goal is to raise a total pot of $5
million worth of commitments from financial institutions, community foundations
or other sources, said the group’s Interim Director Calista Smith. City
government has not pledged any taxpayer dollars at this time for the investment
fund, Smith said.
“Anything we can do to bring activity to
Middletown that’s positive is going to make it a better place to live and a
better place to locate… businesses,” said Ken Cohen, board president of
Middletown Moving Forward and president of local scrap metal recycling company
Cohen.
Typically, gap financing provides
lower-interest capital with lengthier payback terms than traditional business
loans to applicants that qualify. It’s not meant to be the sole source of
financing. Funds will help cover the cost of redevelopment in commercial areas,
including downtown, around Middletown Municipal Airport/Hook Field and along
the Cincinnati-Dayton Road
thoroughfare, Smith said.
“We’re making the rounds as our team of
board members are introducing the concept to various financial institutions,”
she said.
Smith said the program has been modelled
after other funding programs such as Cincinnati’s
3CDC, Hamilton’s CORE Fund, and the Catalytic
Fund in Northern Kentucky.
“One
thing we have is that we already have a number of projects already in the
pipeline,” she said. “We believe our fund will be able to give out more loans
to projects underway such as the Goetz
Tower and Manchester Inn
renovation projects.”
Smith said she hopes that a year from now,
the organization will be able to start accepting loan applications for these
projects and others that are in progress.
Denise Hamet, Middletown’s economic
development director, said a funding mechanism to partner with and help bridge
the gap between the amount of capital funds from the developer and the amount a
bank is willing to loan will help to bring projects to fruition as well as
create jobs.
“I think it builds collaboration in the
community and sends the message that redevelopment in the community is a
priority,” she said.
Hamet said many projects, such as rehabbing
or renovating a building, tend to cost more money and take patience as they
require more time to complete.
One example is the Goetz Tower,
located at the southeast corner of Central
Avenue and South Main Street. Hamet said it took
three years to assist the group redeveloping http://www.journal-news.com/news/news/downtown-middletown-project-awarded-600k-state-tax/njWgP/" rel="nofollow - to
leverage with their lender’s financing for the venture. The redevelopment
project will convert the second through the seventh floors into 24 market-rate
apartments, as well as create retail, restaurant and other commercial space on
the first floor. Construction is to begin in March and will take 18 months to
complete.
Hamet also said the airport is another area
where the city is stepping up its efforts. She said there is a need to build
more hangars and other structures to possibly attract aerospace-based companies
to locate there.
“New projects are emerging every day,”
Hamet said. “Our message is that it takes a village to get a project off the
ground.”
The Goetz Tower
project will be key in continuing to revitalize downtown in conjunction with
other projects such as the Manchester Inn renovation as well as the Snider
Ford/Sonshine Building project to convert it into a microbrewery and brewpub,
Hamet said.
“It’s all interconnected,” she said. “One
(project) is going to help another.”
Middletown
Moving Forward formed in 2005 as a community improvement corporation to
advance, promote, and encourage industrial and commercial economic development
activities. Its board members consist of private and public sector leaders.
Its board has met several times with Mike
Dingeldein, executive director of the CORE Fund in Hamilton, he said.
http://www.journal-news.com/news/news/as-core-fund-grows-director-separates-for-profit-n/ngbqt/" rel="nofollow - that has
raised more than $6 million to acquire blighted properties and make
non-traditional loans to developers for projects in the area of High and Main
streets.
Unlike CORE Fund, Middletown Moving
Forward’s activities would not be restricted to downtown investment. Nor does
the Middletown
group have plans at this point to buy vacant buildings, Cohen said.
CORE Fund also has money available to make
nontraditional loans, but has yet to issue its first one.
“I think what we’ve learned since we
started is that we aren’t what we thought we would be just because we didn’t
know how it would go,” Dingeldein said.
By taking the risk of acquiring buildings
directly, the CORE Fund has been able to ready the properties for development —
cleaning-up, doing some restoration work, settling liens and completing
environmental studies — faster.
“For us clearly it’s been putting property
and buildings and projects in a place where they can get legs under them. It’s
real easy to imagine great projects, but it’s hard to get them up off the
ground,” Dingeldein said.
MIDDLETOWN MOVING FORWARD BOARD MEMBERS
·
Ken Cohen, board president;
·
Mayor Larry Mulligan Jr., board vice president;
·
Denise Hamet, board treasurer;
·
Debbie Garitson, board secretary; and
·
the following board trustees: Dora Bronston, Matt Eisenbraun, Rick
Fishbaugh, Dennis Gamble, Judy Gilleland, Greg Martin, Dan Nix, Rick Pearce,
John Sawyer, Mike Stautberg, Tom Swope, David VanArsdale, Anita Scott-Jones and
Calista Smith.
SOURCE:
www.middletownmovingforward.com
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