Relevant Project Experience REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF MILWAUKEE Downtown Projects: Strategic Analysis In spring of 2007, SB Friedman conducted a strategic review of the development climate in Downtown Milwaukee on behalf of the City. The impetus behind this effort was the existence of 11 mixed-use development proposals in the Downtown market, including hotel, office, retail, condo and rental apartment uses. Several of these proposals included requests for financial and/or other types of development assistance from the City. The SB Friedman study examined:
Market capacity for these uses (hotel uses evaluated by HVS International as a subcontractor to SB Friedman)
The real estate financial feasibility of these uses on a prototypical level based on prevailing rents, sales prices, construction costs and land prices
How the requests for public financial assistance should be treated depending on the project location, configuration and included uses
What the City’s expectations should be regarding the buildout timing/absorption of the Park East area of Downtown
Results: The Study was completed in June of 2007 and has been used by the City as a framework for evaluating proposed Downtown projects since that time. Reference: Mr. Rocky Marcoux, Commissioner City of Milwaukee, Department of City Development (414) 286-5806, Rocky.Marcoux@mkedcd.org Project Start Date: April 2007 Project End Date: June 2007 CITY OF OMAHA, NE Downtown Master Plan Update The team of HDR, Inc. and SB Friedman prepared an update of the Downtown Master Plan for Omaha, Nebraska in 2009. The original master plan was prepared in 1973, and focused on key initiatives for maintaining the area’s viability in the face of disinvestment and changing economic conditions. The downtown and adjacent neighborhoods have experienced a substantial amount of new development and redevelopment in recent years, and the trends
that are stimulating this activity are expected to continue. Therefore, the City of Omaha and other key stakeholder organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, Hotel/Motel Association and major downtown businesses sought a long-term master plan to set a framework and guide development for the next 20 to 30 years. The study area for the plan encompassed the traditional downtown area as well as the newly emerging North Downtown (NoDo) area that has become a center for urban residential, retail, hospitality and entertainment development, including a new minor league baseball stadium. The study area contains notable assets such as the CenturyLink Center arena/convention center, newly constructed Missouri River pedestrian bridge, Creighton University campus, and Gallup University. Adjacent urban neighborhoods such as the Old Market area and now NoDo bring a residential component to the downtown employment base. SB Friedman provided development advisory services to the team based on market parameters, real estate development experience and case study research. The firm’s consulting experience and private sector development experience of key senior staff allow it to function as a “proxy developer” when evaluating development opportunities and providing guidance to the planning and design process. The scope of services included identifying development product types that may hold potential, evaluating opportunity sites and potential development clusters in the study area, and estimating the scale, sequence and potential locations for various opportunities that emerge from the planning process. Results: SB Friedman’s market analysis identified near-term rental residential opportunity as well as opportunity to serve empty nesters. In addition, there is longer-term opportunity for more rental housing. Along with the potential identified to generate numerous new office towers over the planning horizon, these analyses formed a basis for the development program of the plan. This included major mixed-use redevelopment opportunities, revitalization of 16th Street, enhanced access to the riverfront, longer term potential restructuring of downtown office campus’ and numerous other projects. We participated in the week-long charrette to help develop these ideas and integrate them into the 2030 Downtown Omaha Plan. Reference: Mr. Douglas Bisson, AICP, Community Planning Manager HDR, Inc. (402) 399-1287, doug.bisson@hdrinc.com Project Start Date: January 2009 Project End Date: August 2009 CITY OF PARK RIDGE, IL Developer Solicitation for The Shops and Residences of Uptown SB Friedman was engaged to assist the City of Park Ridge in soliciting developers for Target Area 2 of its Uptown Master Plan, generally known as the Bredemann/ Reservoir Area. The City had purchased two car dealerships and had determined that its existing reservoir might be moved.
Working with the City, HKM Architects and Planners, and Parsons Transportation Group, we evaluated the development potential of the site. Key issues were the relationship of the site to the Pickwick Theatre, complex traffic patterns, and establishing a walkable downtown environment. The block that includes the existing public library was considered off-limits for development. Earlier market studies were updated and expanded. Through a series of studies, we identified and quantified the market for residential and retail uses at the site and then introduced the concept of organizing the downtown around a “city commons” that encompassed the library block making it a focal point since it could not be developed. A number of ways to tame traffic at the intersection were also identified. We worked through a number of issues related to height, design, materials, and uses in a series of sessions with both staff and the City Council. Mid-process, seven of the 14 members of the City Council were replaced as a result of contested elections. After several sessions involving both old and new aldermen, the City Council unanimously approved the issuance of the Request for Developer Qualifications and Proposals (RFQ/P) incorporating the market-based analysis and recommendations for the development. The RFQ/P was released in early September 2003 and attracted 19 responses. Five developers were short-listed and submitted final proposals. We then evaluated the development proposals for Target Area 2 based on their fit with City goals and development guidelines, site planning and design quality, architectural design quality, and economic benefits. In order to evaluate economic benefits to the City, we conducted a financial analysis that included TIF projections, sales tax projections, and a review of development costs. Results: The 14-member City Council selected a preferred developer in May 2004. SB Friedman assisted the City in evaluating the detailed development proposal, economic feasibility, and developer return, and in reviewing and negotiating the terms of a redevelopment agreement with the developers. On December 20, 2004, the City Council unanimously approved the redevelopment agreement. Groundbreaking took place on June 1, 2005. This $100 million mixed-use project is complete and substantially sold out or leased. The project won the 2008 Gold Award from the Illinois Chapter of the American Planning Association, the 2008 award in the Neighborhood, District and Corridor category from the Congress for the New Urbanism, and the 2012 ULI Chicago Vision Award for Suburban Development.
Total Residential Units: 189 Total Square Feet: 383,788 Total Parking: 702 Residential Construction Cost PSF: $142 Residential Sales Price PSF: $284
Total Market Value: $116 million Total Project Cost: $120.5 million
Reference: Ms. Juliana Maller, Former Deputy City Manager, City of Park Ridge Village Manager, Village of Hanover Park (630) 823-5610, jmaller@hpil.org Project Start Date: January 2003 Project End Date: December 2006 VILLAGE OF GLENVIEW, IL Downtown Revitalization Plan/Economic Feasibility Analysis In July of 2004, SB Friedman was engaged to head a multi-firm team including The Lakota Group, KLOA, and Christopher Burke Engineers in preparing a Downtown Revitalization Plan for the Village of Glenview, Illinois. The scope of the engagement was focused on creating a highly implementable plan and included market analysis for multiple land uses, alternate development concepts for key downtown sites, and economic feasibility analysis. In order to assess the economic feasibility of various redevelopment concepts, SB Friedman researched key assumptions and constructed a block-by-block financial model for the downtown. The model was designed to accommodate a range of uses, building types and densities. Results were evaluated by comparing estimated residual land value generated by a given development concept with the estimated acquisition cost for the underlying site. Residual land value estimates were based on such factors as rents, sale prices, construction costs, demolition/site preparation, soft costs, and developer overhead and profit. The firm used the model to help the Village’s staff and Downtown Planning Committee evaluate tradeoffs between project density levels/site configurations and feasibility for implementation by the private market. A Preferred Concept reflecting this economic feasibility analysis was developed and submitted to the Downtown Planning Committee and ultimately the Village Board of Trustees in May of 2006. Results: The final Master Plan, which included revitalization priorities and a detailed implementation strategy, was reviewed by the Village Board of Trustees and formally adopted on August 15, 2006. The Village subsequently developed and adopted a formbased zoning code that closely matched the plan recommendations. The Village has also purchased a key site in the Downtown, and is currently working with prospective redevelopers.
Reference: Ms. Mary Bak, Director of Development Village of Glenview (847) 904-4304, maryb@glenview.il.us Project Start Date: July 2004 Project End Date: November 2006 CITY OF CLEVELAND DEPARTMENT OF PORT CONTROL Market Analysis and Development Implementation Services
Source: Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects
SB Friedman was engaged in 2011 by the City of Cleveland Department of Port Control to develop a comprehensive business plan, tested for market and economic feasibility, for refining and implementing the City’s waterfront development plan for North Coast Harbor (NCH) and the Burke Development District, as contemplated by the architectural firm Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn (EE&K). Our team includes Berusch Development Partners, a Clevelandbased firm, in this task.
The plan envisions a mixed-use redevelopment of the waterfront, including restaurants, retail, office, and entertainment and hotel development along the Lake Erie coastline in Downtown Cleveland. SB Friedman’s scope includes testing the market and economic feasibility of the plan, advising on development strategy, identifying financing sources, and preparing a development prospectus for potential developers and/or end users. We have conducted interviews with key local developers and brokers to gauge interest in potential waterfront office and retail development. The analysis of the retail and hotel market potential included: identifying and analyzing comparable waterfront developments; reviewing the existing and planned Downtown retail and hotel supply; assessing the demand drivers for retail and hotel uses; quantifying the current demand for a permanent restaurant, a cluster of restaurants, and a lakefront hotel; and estimating the potential NCH capture of Downtown retail and hotel demand, and supportable development. We have also analyzed historical employment and office absorption to project the absorption potential of the waterfront office site. The analysis includes detailed assessment of office development over the past ten years, employment growth in key sectors, and the competitive position of the site within the Class A + market. Based on these analyses, we have produced a marketsupportable office development program for the Burke Development District and a retail/entertainment and hotel program for North Coast Harbor. SB Friedman has also identified a number of site and management issues that will affect development potential in the Burke Development District, which is located adjacent to a commercial airport. Land conveyance issues due to layered federal, state and local regulations and leases have been identified as key precedents to development readiness. In addition, infrastructure requirements must be detailed and addressed.
In our next tasks (early 2012) pursuant to our scope, we will work with the client to simplify land conveyance for development, consider appropriate models for a development entity or entities for the waterfront districts, and prepare a financial model with financing sources to address infrastructure and site preparation to achieve a development-ready site. Results: Critical action steps to create and deliver development-ready sites within the Burke Development District have been outlined. The office and retail market analyses, and developer and broker interviews, have shown that office and retail development on the Cleveland waterfront is market feasible. Next steps include analyzing the financial feasibility of the proposed office and retail development, and cost and sources of funds for infrastructure. Reference: Ms. Patricia Singleton, Chief Business Development & Management Cleveland Airport System (216) 265-6121, psingleton@clevelandairport.com Project Start Date: August 2011 Project End Date: Ongoing MILWAUKEE DEPARTMENT OF CITY DEVELOPMENT Research Park Market Analysis and Economic Feasibility Review for Zablocki VA Medical Center Campus Site SB Friedman conducted an extensive review of market potential for the proposed leasing and redevelopment/ adaptive reuse of a portion of the Zablocki Veterans Administration (VA) Campus in Milwaukee. The VA found that this site was not needed for its core operations on the campus, and was therefore eligible for the federal Enhanced Use Lease program. The City of Milwaukee engaged SB Friedman to conduct a market analysis for proposed business park uses with a biomedical technology emphasis, as well as to create pro forma-level projections of the City’s costs and revenues associated with the site redevelopment. This work included estimating potential ground lease revenues from office development, as well as projection of incremental property taxes resulting from the project to be used for infrastructure and capital upgrades to the main hospital facility. The campus also contained a number of historically significant structures, some of which were proposed for inclusion in the City’s lease area. SB Friedman assisted the City in evaluating potential strategies for re-using these buildings, including such uses as affordable and special needs housing targeted to veteran populations. Results: The City of Milwaukee discussed a potential lease agreement with the Veterans Administration, but was unable to come to terms with them, and the project did not proceed.
Reference: Mr. Jim Scherer, Vice President Milwaukee Economic Development Corporation (414) 286-5850, jim.scherer@milwaukee.gov Project Start Date: February 2006 Project End Date: February 2007 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO (UIC) Development Advisory and Market Analysis Services SB Friedman has performed a series of assignments for the University of Illinois at Chicago, a major urban research university located adjacent to Chicago’s downtown West Loop neighborhood. Our longstanding advisory relationship with the University began in approximately 1990, and continues today. Representative projects that we have advised on include: UIC Forum Due Diligence and Financial Modeling. From 2003 to 2005, SB Friedman conducted a due diligence analysis to validate and refine University estimates of demand and pricing for a mixed-use Convocation Center and meeting/conference facility. Our work included interview-based assessments of internal University and external private demand for event space of different types and sizes, as well as a review of market pricing for such facilities. Working collaboratively and iteratively with University officials, we incorporated this and other data into a financial pro forma for the project that evaluated it in isolation as well as in the context of the broader Student Unions and Campus Auxiliary Services financial entities. This pro forma was then used to underwrite facility bonds with net proceeds of about $125 million used to finance the project. Our work was also subsequently used in follow-up discussions with rating agencies for Auxiliary Services’ overall debt portfolio. The UIC Forum was completed and opened for events in February 2008. It includes:
A 3,000 seat main hall with retractable event seating On-site catering capabilities Meeting and conference rooms
South Campus/University Village Redevelopment Advisory Services. The South Campus project is an ambitious 14-block mixed-use redevelopment undertaken by UIC as part of a campus expansion, an increase in the University’s on-campus residential population, and a broadening of the local amenities available to the University community and surrounding neighborhood. The project, which is nearing full completion, includes approximately:
1,500 student housing units in mixed-use and residential-only formats 950 for-sale townhome, single-family, loft, and condo flat-style units 140,000 square feet of ground-floor retail uses, all in mixed-use buildings 70,000 square feet of University office uses on upper floors 600 spaces of structured parking
Prior to founding SB Friedman, Steve Friedman initially conducted a market study of the retail development potential in the area south of Roosevelt Road. This study helped UIC and the City of Chicago recognize that the use of the area for UICrelated purposes was appropriate. In 1996, the firm was engaged by UIC to assist a 17-member selection committee in reviewing the proposals of four major developers seeking selection to undertake the redevelopment project. SB Friedman assisted with the structuring of the selected developer’s compensation package. We developed the University’s financial pro forma for the project, and have subsequently managed and updated it. We are assisting in the ongoing financial management of the project by analyzing potential tenants and lease structures, operating costs, tenant improvement allowances, refinancing and master leasing alternatives, and the overall performance of the project. Reference: Mr. Michael Landek, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs University of Illinois at Chicago (312) 413-5902, mlandek@uic.edu Project Start Date: June 2002 Project End Date: Ongoing CITY OF IOWA CITY, IA Downtown and Riverfront Crossing Plan In 2011, the team of HDR, Inc. and SB Friedman was engaged by the City of Iowa City, Iowa to prepare comprehensive plan updates for its Downtown and Riverfront Crossings Districts. The greater Downtown area has seen substantial development in recent years, especially in the area of rental housing geared towards undergraduate students attending the University of Iowa. The trends that are stimulating this type of development activity are expected to continue – the University’s proximity to Downtown and relative lack of on-campus housing create a situation in which undergraduate-oriented rental housing drives land values in the area. However, the City is interested in seeing development of other uses in study area, including additional office space and residential product geared towards other age and income segments. To help drive those policy goals, the City of Iowa City sought a long-term master plan to set a framework and guide development in these Districts for the next 20 to 30 years. The study area for the plan encompassed the traditional Downtown as well as the newly emerging Riverfront Crossings area south and west of Downtown. Much of the Riverfront Crossings District was inundated during the 2008 floods, but the area is increasingly considered an attractive location for new development. A planned decommissioning of a water treatment plant along the Iowa River and its subsequent transformation into a park and open space is seen as a major catalyst to drive future
development in Riverfront Crossings. In addition, both high-speed intercity rail and commuter rail could be accommodated within the District. SB Friedman provided development advisory services to the project team based on market research and real estate development experience. The firm’s consulting experience and the private sector development experience of key senior staff allow it to function as a “proxy developer” when evaluating development opportunities and providing guidance to the planning and design process. Market analysis and development experience was used to inform the potential for office and residential development in multiple submarkets within the study area. The scope of services included identifying development product types that may hold potential, evaluating opportunity sites and potential development clusters in the study area, and estimating the scale, sequence and potential locations for various development opportunities that emerged from the planning process. SB Friedman also outlined potential incentives and other mechanisms the City may have to employ to support development other than residential rental oriented to undergraduate students. Results: SB Friedman’s market analysis identified potential office development and rental and condominium residential opportunities to serve young professionals and empty nesters. We participated in a three-day charrette to help develop these product opportunities and integrate them into the comprehensive plan. Reference: Mr. Douglas Bisson, AICP, Community Planning Manager HDR, Inc. (402) 399-1287, doug.bisson@hdrinc.com Project Start Date: August 2011 Project End Date: June 2012 TRAVOIS NEW MARKETS, LLC Community Impact Analysis of Multiple Projects on Native American Reservations Since 2007, Travois New Markets, LLC (“Travois”) has engaged SB Friedman to complete the necessary economic impact analysis for its applications to the CDFI Fund for allocations of New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC). Travois, a consulting firm providing development assistance services to Native American tribes, has been seeking New Markets Tax Credits financing for the construction/renovation and operational costs of varying types of projects on Native American reservations throughout the nation including:
Commercial/retail projects such as grocery stores New and rehab hotel projects Manufacturing facilities, including a commercial fishing packaging and distribution facility and water bottling plants Renewal energy projects including a biomass plant
Provision of new broadband access Government facilities Health and wellness centers Wastewater treatment facility
SB Friedman reviewed each track record and pipeline project, and prepared customized questionnaires and data requests from the borrowers for each project. This information and data gathered was refined, supplemented with additional research, and summarized in a format to respond specifically to the questions in the Community Impact Section of the NMTC application. To make the application competitive, we collected detailed data inputs that are reflective of actual community impact outcomes of closed track record projects, and applied some of these results (as applicable) to the forecast community impact outcomes of future pipeline projects. Results: Travois has used the community and economic impact analysis results prepared by SB Friedman to submit NMTC applications since 2007. To date, we have helped Travois obtain a total of $110 million from the U.S. Treasury in NMTC allocations. Project Start Date: 2007 Project End Date: Ongoing