Bayside Federated Companies

A difficult part of this is when Federated was selected their portfolio was pretty much all low-rise multi-family apartments. When people show you who they are, believe them. This looked like a big endeavor for them to pull off without much of a local presence. Reps from the city had to have noticed this? But yet, here we are.
 
TC_zoid said:
Developing all of these empty lots for building towers with mostly affordable housing is going to destroy or inhibit whatever Bayside could become for improvement. I like the master planning here (see below image) from the city of Lewiston allowing Kaplan Thompson to kind of take over. I think an ideal mix is low, mid and hi-rises, and with a variety of styles and color. Redfern is certainly capable of this. Their 29 townhomes development with the woonerf (street) focus on the hill is one of my favorites. Perhaps taking some more inspiration from the Scandinavians might be a good way to go. If Bayside gets filled with 8-15 story buildings with no real variety of styles and purpose, I think it becomes largely a fail. Redfern, take the ball and run with this--save the city. The NY Times article painting a picture of downtown Portland as the next Portland (OR) from two months ago still stings. It used to be articles from them on how wonderful Portland is to visit and live. All of those accolades are now somewhat irrelevant.

View attachment 64815
Click to expand...
Who cares what the failing NYT says!
 
OK, I'm an insurance underwriter by trade and tend to be pretty good at math. I'm scratching my head at this math, though. Federated bought the properties in 2016 for $2.3 million. The city is buying them back for $15 million. No improvements were made to the properties. The property value did not appreciate by 550% in 9 years.

I know Federated dumped several million into planning this thing, but it seems to me like they're walking away with a pretty sweetheart deal on something they were clearly in over their heads on from the get-go and unqualified to see through.

I can't imagine the city is going to be able to turn around and sell this property for $15 million to another developer, either.

What. A. Shitshow.
 
I was involved in this from a committee standpoint (aka selling the city parcels through Boulos); we had several proposals and the first was from Atlantic Redevelopment Trust who was going to build the garage and a building next door. The sign and sell agreement were ready to go. They were going to purchase the 3.5 acres for $3 million, it was appraised at $4.5 from the MDOT then things changed and someone at the city level decided that the Ted West proposal was not a great project due to the length of how long it would take the other parcels to get developed, so let's sell all the parcels to someone else. In their mind it was better to get the development done quicker than in phases from different developers. The city was promised basically everything including the moon. Everything also centered around getting the garage built and quickly due to the HUD money. We spent countless hours on the design on the garage, and the Bayside community was very involved in the planning process. The lots at first were not zoned for high structures, so the City Council upped the height to accommodate the development. The planning dept approved the project, then the condo group aka Keep Portland Livable emerged upset that their views from the condo project next to City Hall would impede their views. Federated should have gone to court and fought them, but they didn't. Let's proceed and downsize the project which was not appeasing. It was cheap in design. Now you have a project with 10 floors cut and now it makes the project less financially stable to the investors. To have the project make some money, convert one building to a hotel. Then, you would think why build a hotel in that area? Now, it makes sense. So, the city said no to that idea. I don't have a breakdown of the amount of time and money that went into planning and permits for the initial phase, I would say millions. The project was shovel ready before Peter Monroe and his friends decided to make things hard for them. So, the developer got $1.2 million in HUD money for the garage for design and permitting, the city still holds $8 million, bought the land for $2.2 million. The first phase was going to cost $38 Million -garage and two towers up to 12 stories with an allowable height of 158. The lots are zoned at 105. Now think, the InterMed building is 10 stories, which was built with no outcry. The city has paid over $1.2 million in interest for the loan for the garage. In the end, Developer 1, taxpayers 0
 
DesertMaineiac said:
A difficult part of this is when Federated was selected their portfolio was pretty much all low-rise multi-family apartments. When people show you who they are, believe them. This looked like a big endeavor for them to pull off without much of a local presence. Reps from the city had to have noticed this? But yet, here we are.
Click to expand...
Federated has pulled off far greater projects in much less time, and having had a front row seat to the entire saga I can tell you firsthand that the City played no small part and why things ended up the way they did. Look what's happening now to Live Nation. Look at all the other projects that have floundered as well. The City is truly a difficult place to conduct business, but it thinks the exact opposite of itself. It's a narrow mindedness that only comes from being so remote and detached from the way the rest of the world functions, in my humble opinion.
 
Dr. StrangeHat said:
OK, I'm an insurance underwriter by trade and tend to be pretty good at math. I'm scratching my head at this math, though. Federated bought the properties in 2016 for $2.3 million. The city is buying them back for $15 million. No improvements were made to the properties. The property value did not appreciate by 550% in 9 years.

I know Federated dumped several million into planning this thing, but it seems to me like they're walking away with a pretty sweetheart deal on something they were clearly in over their heads on from the get-go and unqualified to see through.

I can't imagine the city is going to be able to turn around and sell this property for $15 million to another developer, either.

What. A. Shitshow.
Click to expand...
Federated went under contract in 2011. So the 2.3MM price is a 2011 number. Since then urban property values across the nation have risen exponentially (remember, this was before the 'return to the city' movement really took effect in third tier cities like Portland, with millenials ditching the burbs for more urban locales). In addition to that general appreciation, tremendous engineering work was done on the sites, and there have been a good number of other infill projects that further enhance the general appeal of land like this beyond the broader market forces impacting all urban areas. Finally, this price was not paid as a market sale, it was a lawsuit settlement -- meaning, it is not market. In essence, Federated forfeited all of its claims for contract breach against the City (among other claims, see the federal and state lawsuits), in exchange for $15MM, and the city forfeited its claims against Federated in exchange for the land. You also have to remember that Federated had a claim to 9MM in federal funding that was ruined by the City's eminent domain taking, which also appears to be part of this settlement (not just real estate value). My guess is the City has a back end buyer already lined up, because it doesn't have 15MM lying around, and raising that amount of money by taxes or bonding without a real plan would be politically difficult for all of the obvious reasons you pointed out... being in real estate my guess is that $15MM for that land is under market, since it is one of the few aggregated large parcels on the peninsula, and has decent highway frontage. That said, there's also the socioeconomic forces which counteract that, and the fact that the City can't get out of its own way to see a development through (likely stigmatizing the property).
 
PWMFlyer said:
I was involved in this from a committee standpoint (aka selling the city parcels through Boulos); we had several proposals and the first was from Atlantic Redevelopment Trust who was going to build the garage and a building next door. The sign and sell agreement were ready to go. They were going to purchase the 3.5 acres for $3 million, it was appraised at $4.5 from the MDOT then things changed and someone at the city level decided that the Ted West proposal was not a great project due to the length of how long it would take the other parcels to get developed, so let's sell all the parcels to someone else. In their mind it was better to get the development done quicker than in phases from different developers. The city was promised basically everything including the moon. Everything also centered around getting the garage built and quickly due to the HUD money. We spent countless hours on the design on the garage, and the Bayside community was very involved in the planning process. The lots at first were not zoned for high structures, so the City Council upped the height to accommodate the development. The planning dept approved the project, then the condo group aka Keep Portland Livable emerged upset that their views from the condo project next to City Hall would impede their views. Federated should have gone to court and fought them, but they didn't. Let's proceed and downsize the project which was not appeasing. It was cheap in design. Now you have a project with 10 floors cut and now it makes the project less financially stable to the investors. To have the project make some money, convert one building to a hotel. Then, you would think why build a hotel in that area? Now, it makes sense. So, the city said no to that idea. I don't have a breakdown of the amount of time and money that went into planning and permits for the initial phase, I would say millions. The project was shovel ready before Peter Monroe and his friends decided to make things hard for them. So, the developer got $1.2 million in HUD money for the garage for design and permitting, the city still holds $8 million, bought the land for $2.2 million. The first phase was going to cost $38 Million -garage and two towers up to 12 stories with an allowable height of 158. The lots are zoned at 105. Now think, the InterMed building is 10 stories, which was built with no outcry. The city has paid over $1.2 million in interest for the loan for the garage. In the end, Developer 1, taxpayers 0
Click to expand...
A lot of good points here ... especially the upzoning which added tremendous value. You can go as high as 165 feet on some parcels there now, which has real value.
 
cneal said:
Nice find!

I was curious to note that the settlement didn't include Lot 6 – the one at the NE corner of Lancaster and Chestnut – but according to the city's tax assessor's map, that's already under City of Portland ownership. So it looks like the city's eminent domain proceedings for that lot were a success (and this settlement will presumably block Federated from challenging it).

I do wonder where the $15 million is coming from – the city doesn't exactly have that kind of money lying around, which makes me wonder if there's already another developer waiting in the wings with an offer to buy the land once the settlement is official. Hopefully we'll learn more at the Council meeting.
Click to expand...
In maine eminent domain doesn't need to 'succeed' it just happens when its filed and then the owner has to challenge it ... so it was effective back in 2021.
 
Urban World said:
Federated went under contract in 2011. So the 2.3MM price is a 2011 number. Since then urban property values across the nation have risen exponentially (remember, this was before the 'return to the city' movement really took effect in third tier cities like Portland, with millenials ditching the burbs for more urban locales). In addition to that general appreciation, tremendous engineering work was done on the sites, and there have been a good number of other infill projects that further enhance the general appeal of land like this beyond the broader market forces impacting all urban areas. Finally, this price was not paid as a market sale, it was a lawsuit settlement -- meaning, it is not market. In essence, Federated forfeited all of its claims for contract breach against the City (among other claims, see the federal and state lawsuits), in exchange for $15MM, and the city forfeited its claims against Federated in exchange for the land. You also have to remember that Federated had a claim to 9MM in federal funding that was ruined by the City's eminent domain taking, which also appears to be part of this settlement (not just real estate value). My guess is the City has a back end buyer already lined up, because it doesn't have 15MM lying around, and raising that amount of money by taxes or bonding without a real plan would be politically difficult for all of the obvious reasons you pointed out... being in real estate my guess is that $15MM for that land is under market, since it is one of the few aggregated large parcels on the peninsula, and has decent highway frontage. That said, there's also the socioeconomic forces which counteract that, and the fact that the City can't get out of its own way to see a development through (likely stigmatizing the property).
Click to expand...
You are so spot on with your points. The city needs to get out of the development business entirely except to hire a prominent urban planning team to lay out the future of all of Bayside and integrate it with the redevelopment of Franklin Arterial then step aside and let companie with proven track records like Redfern come in and do their thing. The less meddling the city does, the better.
 
markhb said:
I just noticed that the City Council is having an Executive Session next week (the 29th) to discuss the Bayside properties.
Click to expand...
Look for: i) a deal where a third party buys the properties for $15MM or more, and ii) affordable housing, with the exec session intended to cover the terms and structuring of the former, and the extent of the latter.
 
Urban World said:
Look for: i) a deal where a third party buys the properties for $15MM or more, and ii) affordable housing, with the exec session intended to cover the terms and structuring of the former, and the extent of the latter.
Click to expand...
Seems like all the City Councilors are trying to tie their own pet-projects into the site. Councilor Sykes wants to use the site for a still completely undeveloped and unfunded hypothetical social housing model . Councilor Ali wants the site to be used for the relocated Public Safety HQ. Councilor Michniewicz (who lives in Bayside) wants to use the site for a public park :rolleyes:
 
Cosakita18 said:
Seems like all the City Councilors are trying to tie their own pet-projects into the site. Councilor Sykes wants to use the site for a still completely undeveloped and unfunded hypothetical social housing model . Councilor Ali wants the site to be used for the relocated Public Safety HQ. Councilor Michniewicz (who lives in Bayside) wants to use the site for a public park :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Can I throw in my idea for a train station? Three tracks on each of the East and West ends and one thru track. Reconstruct the rail bridge and reactivate that portion of the STL.
 
Cosakita18 said:
Seems like all the City Councilors are trying to tie their own pet-projects into the site. Councilor Sykes wants to use the site for a still completely undeveloped and unfunded hypothetical social housing model . Councilor Ali wants the site to be used for the relocated Public Safety HQ. Councilor Michniewicz (who lives in Bayside) wants to use the site for a public park :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

A new combined fire/police station on one block wouldn't be the worst idea if it frees up the existing police station on Middle Street and the downtown fire station next to Lincoln Park for sale and redevelopment...
 
I heard thru the rumor mill that the Celtics are looking for a facility with parking. This could be an option in bayside?
 
PWMFlyer said:
I heard thru the rumor mill that the Celtics are looking for a facility with parking. This could be an option in bayside?
Click to expand...
Well, it's obviously not going to happen at Thompson's Point, so.... (Honestly, I can't imagine a majority of the current City Council going for that.)
 
cneal said:
A new combined fire/police station on one block wouldn't be the worst idea if it frees up the existing police station on Middle Street and the downtown fire station next to Lincoln Park for sale and redevelopment...
Click to expand...
The central fire station is a designated landmark so that definitely limits development potential. The fire station is such a waste of space in that location. It takes up a whole city block in the middle of downtown.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top