ORDINANCE NO. O2014-38

AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING A CONTRACT BETWEEN THE CITY AND THE WINDAMERE LLC FOR THE SALE OF CITY OWNED PROPERTY AND

DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.

WHEREAS, the City owns certain real property more commonly known as the Bank One Building, located at 2 South Main Street; and

WHEREAS, The Windamere LLC has offered to purchase said property at a

price more than ten (10%) below the appraised value; and

WHEREAS, City Council is willing to sell the property at the offered price;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED, by the City Council of the City of Middletown, Butler/Warren Counties, Ohio that:

Section 1

The City Manager, without complying with the procedures of Chapter 721 of the Ohio Revised Code, is hereby authorized to enter into a contract with The Windamere LLC for the sale of the real property located at 2 South Main Street known as the Bank One Building in accordance with Ordinance No. O2002-87. City Council hereby accepts the offer of The Windamere LLC for said property. The contract shall be in a form substantially similar to Attachment “1” hereto, and shall be acceptable to the City as approved by the Law Director and City Manager.

Section 2

This Council hereby determines that the procedure to be followed in the award and execution of the aforesaid contract shall consist solely of the procedure set forth in Ordinance O2002-87. The provisions of Chapter 721 of the Ohio Revised Code shall not be applicable to the award and execution of the aforesaid contract.

Section 3

The City Council hereby determines that the property to be transferred by the City is not presently needed for any municipal purposes.

Section 4

It is hereby determined that the subject matter of this legislation is not of a general and permanent nature, does not provide for a public improvement and does not assess a tax or payment.

Section 5

This ordinance is declared to be an emergency measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, safety and general welfare, to wit: to permit the prompt transfer so the purchaser can begin renovation as quickly as possible, and shall take effect and be in force from and after the earliest time permitted by law.

______________________________

Lawrence P. Mulligan, Jr., Mayor

Adopted:___________________

Attest:_____________________

Clerk of City Council

Well is Mr. Walden going to repay City Hall the public tax dollars of $50,000 for improvements that were just completed to the MUM side of this building?
or is City Council going to just forget and forgive this debt also.

Last year before the upgrades Miami Research was paying $4,833.33 per month. Their lease was increased to $5,667.00 per month to cover the cost
of the $50,000 upgrades as per the vote of City Council.

The balance of these upgrades should be repaid by Mr. Walden since he will be receiving the benefit of these upgrades over the 5 year lease.
This agreement needs to rewritten.

Spider
Don’t forget…the HEP-CG&E Building, with two floors not completed, just sold for 5.8 million dollars to Store Market Funding.

Dean
You are soooo correct. This property was only going to be sold to one of the “Special People”.

Posted: 5:02 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014

MIDDLETOWN

Bank One building to contribute to downtown’s arts, education focus

By Michael D. Pitman

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN —

Artist Chris Walden said the Bank One building is a key piece of downtown Middletown.

Middletown City Council on Tuesday night voted to sell the Bank One building, 2 S. Main St., to Walden and his group, Windamere LLC.

The sale — which is for $140,000 for the building appraised at just under $300,000 — now means the city is divested of the buildings it purchased when enticing Cincinnati State Middletown to locate a branch campus in its downtown.

The building is caddy-corner from Cincinnati State Middletown’s campus. City officials said they are pleased with the vision Walden has for the building, which they say is consistent with the arts and education focus of downtown Middletown, according to a city staff report.

“We look forward to seeing him bring new life to that corner of Central and Main,” said Vice Mayor Joe Mulligan.

Walden, in an interview with the Journal-News, said, “We actually have a lot of expectations.”

Walden said he and his staff, Mica Glaser and Theron Jones, has quite a few plans for the building, including hosting upwards of 125 events a year, showcasing his and others’ artwork, and providing a hands-on work environment for those graduating from Cincinnati State and Miami University with aspirations in digital animation and digital game creation — which both schools offer courses in these fields.

“Once they get out of school, they can go somewhere to actually make and produce a game or video from start to finish as a team,” said Walden. “The problems that we have with that industry is … we have a huge void in the middle of this country for students and actually nowhere for them to go.”

The effort will be headed up by Walden’s son, Brennen Walden, who will have offices in the basement of the building.

The city was set to sell the building in April, but after a local developer said he was told by city officials the building wasn’t for sale, City Council restarted the bidding process. Windamere LLC was the only bidder. Middletown Law Director Les Landen said it could take 60 to 90 days to actually complete the transaction. Walden said he plans to have renovations completed by the spring.

Walden said he will retain the building’s two current tenants, Miami University Middletown’s Applied Research Center and the Middletown Historical Society, and will look to lease additional space.