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February 27, 2017
Dear fellow Chamber of Commerce Members,
As the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce Vice-Chair of Advocacy and a former CRA board member, I, along with the Advocacy committee, feel it is important that everyone understand the background of the iPic project and the benefits it will provide to Delray Beach. This letter is written to re-state the Chamber Board of Directors' support for the project and correct some inaccuracies posted about the project and the approval process recently on Facebook.
The Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce strongly urges the City and the CRA to finalize the development agreements with Delray Beach Holdings, LLC so that construction on the iPic project may begin as soon as possible. Design documents are done, permits are ready, and the only outstanding contract issues are 1) finalizing the reimbursement amount for 40 additional public parking spaces requested by the city after the RFP was awarded, and 2) finalizing the reasonable annual contribution the CRA will make for the maintenance of the 90 dedicated public parking spaces being built by iPic as part of their development agreement.
By way of background, this development project was selected as the best one of four proposals received by the CRA back in 2013 in response to an RFP to redevelop the old Library & Chamber of Commerce property. At the time all four proposals were received, the CRA engaged PMG Associates, an economic, marketing, and management consulting firm, to assist in analyzing all of them very carefully for their impacts and contributions to the district. Here is some of what the iPic project will bring to Delray Beach:
- $3.6 million to the city/CRA for the purchase of the property. At the time of the RFP, the appraised value was $2.9 million.
- 45,000 sf of iPic movie theater
- 44,000 sf of class A office space
- 7,500 sf of retail space
- 90 dedicated public parking spaces
- 294 jobs
- $1 million in sales taxes contributed annually
- $410,000 in property tax revenue to the City and CRA in just the first year of operation. (This was the highest amount of all four proposals received by the CRA)
- $974,000 estimated annual employee spending with neighboring businesses
- Economic diversity to a downtown heavily dependent on restaurants
- Peak economic activity during the summer months, our slowest season
- A family friendly entertainment option for the community
- A rooftop park
- A corporate headquarters for a nationally recognized business
With respect to the first outstanding item, the CRA's RFP required all of the development proposals to replace 50 surface parking spaces that currently exist on the site. During the approval process, the city asked iPic to provide an additional 40 spaces. The CRA will be reimbursing iPic at a discounted price of $10,000 per space for these 40 additional spaces, which is approximately one third of their actual price to build. Even better is that these reimbursements will not be made up front. Rather, they will be stretched over a 10-year period. And it is anticipated that the city will meter all 90 spaces and will receive significant revenue from them year after year. City staff has estimated this revenue to be over $150,000 per year.
As for the maintenance, it is appropriate that the CRA provide the reimbursement for the maintenance of the 90 spaces. It was always contemplated that the upkeep of the public spaces would remain with the city, just as the upkeep of the 50 surface parking spaces falls on the city today. However, instead of the city providing the actual management and labor associated with that maintenance, it is more prudent for iPic to provide it since iPic will own the garage. The CRA has determined the reasonable actual annual cost estimate for maintenance will be $75,000 and is prepared to provide this amount.
The RFP process and the contract negotiations with iPic have always been and continue to be an open public process. Since 2013, the CRA has received and considered a substantial amount of public comment. All documents and reports, including the analyses by PMG, are public record and available to all. We believe the CRA and the City have both consistently acted in the best interest of the community, and that the iPic project will successfully contribute not only to widening our tax base and expanding our economic vitality, but also to increasing our quality of life in here in Delray Beach.
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