J Magazine Winter 2017

“You used to hear about things that
were going to happen, now you’re
actually seeing things happen.”
Steve Moore, president of The Vestcor Companies
If you want allocation of development rights, start with the
DIA.
If you need to go through a design review process, start
with the DIA.
If you need to work with other agencies, such as the city’s historic
preservation department, the DIA will assist you.
Not to interfere with the process, Wallace said, but to let the
agency know the project is one the DIA wants to potentially see
move forward.
That approach has helped write a new story for Downtown,
adding multimillion-dollar projects from Brooklyn to LaVilla to
the core to the Sports Complex.
“You used to hear about things that were going to happen,”
said Steve Moore, president of The Vestcor Companies, which is
developing the Lofts at LaVilla and the Lofts on Monroe. “Now
you’re actually seeing things happen.”
Review workshops making a difference
The Downtown Development Review Board used to be considered
a necessary evil. A place where projects would be picked
apart at public meetings, with developers having to return more
than once to get through the convoluted process.
Now, especially on larger projects, there’s likely to be a workshop
before a project is heard by the DDRB. A productive meeting
of the minds to answer questions and hammer out concerns.
That process worked well for Vestcor, Moore said.
“We walked through potential issues, worked through all
those, and by the time it got to the board, it had already been reviewed
and vetted,” he said.
There were minimal comments at the board meeting, and although
the company had to return a second time to address a
couple of issues, it was a quick approval, Moore said.
Moore said the DIA and DDRB are committed to maintaining
standards, but have “a mindset of getting through the process
and not just beating things to death and slowing development.”
Vestcor is a substantial investor in Downtown. The Lofts at
LaVilla and Lofts on Monroe are approximately $23 million and
$20.5 million projects, respectively. The public incentives included
loans totaling $1.19 million and the use of tax credit programs.
The company is pursuing a second phase of the Lofts of LaVilla,
called Lofts at Jefferson Station.
Vestcor also owns 11 East Forsyth and The Carling apartment
buildings.
Michael Munz, a partner in The District on the Southbank,
also praised the DIA for its supportive approach to the project,
which will be $450 million to $500 million at total build-out.
He said the authority’s staff began providing feedback and
guidance early in the master-planning process. “If we needed to
make a change, we knew early during the process and not just at
the end of the road,” he said.
That was critical in this case because the project is a first
for Downtown, Munz said.
“It is a complicated piece of dirt to develop,” he said. “Everyone
at the table worked hard to find solutions that would work
while living within the confines of the regulatory guidelines that
the city has in place.”
Despite the fact the process took a year, Munz believes it saved
time and money and “plowed new ground for the next big project.
“Being both responsive and coming to the table with a problem-solving
attitude has been a great shift under the leadership
we have in place today,” he added.
The District developers aren’t seeking public incentives for
vertical construction, Munz said, but there have been discussions
about public improvements to the Riverwalk or other public
aspects.
Redevelopment Coordinator Jim Klement, who began working
with DDRB in 2006, said a positive aspect of the DDRB is the
makeup of the board, whose members include business owners,
architects and those with urban-planning backgrounds.
“They have these same challenges when they’re working on
a site themselves, whether it be outside of the city or in different
areas,” he said.
issues with outside agencies
The renovation of the Cowford Chophouse was a unique
process, one where crews literally took the crumbling historic
building apart and put it back together again.
From the outside, the deterioration to the former Guaranty
Bank & Trust building at Bay and Ocean streets was obvious.
But there were hidden issues, as well, including the fact that the
southeast corner had moved four-and-a-half inches.
“There were numerous times during the demolition where
we almost lost a big part of this building,” said Jacques Klempf,
co-founder and partner of Forking Amazing Restaurants.
Klempf bought the building in 2014 at a tax auction for
$165,100. Three years and nearly $10 million later, the Cowford
Chophouse opened in October. It was the first renovation project
overseen by the DIA.
Getting through the approval, permitting and regulatory
steps for a project like this was a complicated and meticulous
process.
It included a yearlong effort to receive City Council approval
for a $500,000 grant from the Downtown Historic Revitalization
Trust Fund. The project also was awarded a $250,000 loan from
the Downtown Economic Development Trust Fund, an economic
tool of the DIA.
Alex Klempf, director of development for Forking Amazing
Restaurants, said the team attended at least nine meetings to
discuss the certificates of appropriateness required for exterior
work on historic buildings. Topics included the brick work,
cornice, doors, windows, roof top and signage. The certificates
20 J MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017-18