Here's some news from Sandpoint courtesy of the Idaho Business Review...
A $30-$40 million project is huge in Sandpoint!
Sandpoint planners give green light to town center
POSTED: Monday, June 1, 2009
by Zach Hagadone
An ambitious plan to build a 225,000-square-foot multi-use community center near downtown Sandpoint may be coming close to fruition, after city planners recommended approval of a rezone request to make way for the complex.
Named the Jamie Packer Centre, in honor of a local golf pro who died in a car accident in 2005,
the project is estimated to cost between $30 million and $40 million and is being fronted by Bruce Pedersen, a Sandpoint developer and co-founder of the Internet-based book club BookCrossing.
The center would be located on 2 acres that have for decades been the site of a Catholic church, a large grain elevator and numerous other buildings. Pedersen’s
plans for the property include an indoor hockey rink; a three story, 90,000-square-foot parking garage; and 135,000 square feet of commercial and residential space, which includes the now-vacant church and grain elevator.
“To have this much property aggregated – the opportunity doesn’t come around very often,” he said. “The project has the potential to bring national recognition to Sandpoint not only for design, mixed use and contemporary urban planning, but the funding model itself.”
Pedersen said he plans to look to a wide variety of sources to cover the cost of the project, including grants for historical preservation, private investment and the city’s urban renewal entity.
“Yes, we will be able to attract the funding, and a lot of that has to do with the innovative model and also the unique qualifications of the project, in that there’s almost no funding source that we don’t qualify for,” he said. “We’re able to cast a wider net.”
Another unique aspect of the project is that it would draw its power and heat from an on-site biomass cogeneration system, which is being designed by Sandpoint-based Vapor Locomotive Company. According to a statement given to the Bonner County Daily Bee earlier this month, using cogeneration would give the center an energy efficiency rating of between 70 percent and 90 percent.
Requests by Pedersen to rezone the property in 2008 and early 2009 were stymied by city officials who felt a change from Residence B to the more intensive Commercial D wouldn’t pass muster with the city’s comprehensive plan. But in its motion to approve the current request, the city’s planning department said rezoning portions of the site to Residence C and Professional Office would be consistent with current uses.
The proposal is slated to go before the Sandpoint City Council on June 17, and sources close to the council said Pedersen’s chances of getting the project approved are good, though questions remain over how successfully he’ll be able to finance it.
If approved, Pedersen said construction could be complete in as little as a year-and-a-half.
“I’m optimistic that it will be welcomed with as much enthusiasm and support as the rest of the community has shown so far. I’m very hopeful that we’ll be able to charge through and go to the next phase,” he said.
Source:
http://www.idahobusiness.net/archive...to-town-center