Dearborn city leaders took a big step toward the eventual sale of facilities Wednesday night. In a special meeting, City Council approved a motion that will allow the city to create a letter of intent to sell the historic property to art-based developer Artspace.
The letter will identify Artspace "exclusively ... as the party we’re negotiating with," Mayor Jack O'Reilly said.
Artspace, working in conjunction with the , intends to turn the building into that could include performance areas, living space and areas for artists to work on their crafts.
Artspace expressed interest in the property as one of dozens of possible site for the project. The intent to sell to Artspace has been spearheaded by Mayor O'Reilly, who has been an outspoken proponent of the move.
However, speeding up the process was a letter sent by Artspace to the city on March 30, "which indicates that they'd really like to buy City Hall," said City Attorney Debra Walling.
“They can’t seek grant funding unless they have a commitment that the city is prepared to go forward,” added O'Reilly.
The letter of intent was supported by Councilmembers Mark Shooshanian, Robert Abraham, David Bazzy and Suzanne Sareini. Council President Tom Tafelski opposed the motion.
Councilmembers Nancy Hubbard and Brian O'Donnell were not present.
Tafelski said after the meeting that he felt that "the timing isn't right" for the sale, and that he does not believe that it's in the best interest of residents.
The letter of intent would specify that the city is selling the building as-is condition, given that it is in need of significant repairs to its roof and parking structure.
"We’ve identified a lot of deficiencies in this building," O'Reilly said. "The purchaser would have to bring it up to code."
Artspace has indicated that they would perserve it as a historic building.
"They're looking to rehabilitate it, bt not knock it down and rebuild," clarified Michael Bewick, director of the EDDDA.
The letter would also specify that the use of the property would have to be for a live/work space for artists; that Artspace would have to preserve at least the east wing of the building; and that grounds would be maintain.
The letter will expire 180 days from the date it becomes effective, and allow time for Artspace to apply for grants for the project. There will also likely an appraisal of the property–and Artspace has agreed to pay market value–but the city would have the ability to weigh in on the price if they feel like it's unreasonably low.
The ownership and maintenance responsibility of is still up for negotiation.
Also still a major point of discussion is where city offices will relocate to. Mayor O'Reilly supports a move to the ADP headquarters on Michigan Avenue, just west of the .
Supporters of the sale of City Hall said they believe that Artspace will bring new business and a revamped image to east downtown.
"People who come to City Hall don't shop in the neighborhood," commented Bewick.
"We have to create a new image of what Dearborn is," added Bazzy. "All we get is negative press and we have to turn that around."
1) City was crying broke, needed to cover a 20 million + deficit, so they layoff at least 1/3 of city staff, make many employees take huge pay cuts, and silently give 6 digit pay raises to all department heads. 2) City fleece's/ bamboozles taxpayers for more money to cover library, pool closings, etc....but on the city website doesn't guarantee the funds will go to those projects. 3) City behind the scenes is setting up a SAD of Special assessment now to cover pools, so the money voted for in the millage was BS. 4) City is building a multi-million dollar train station for what? 5) City is going to sell City Hall to an Art Studio, when it just cried poor, downsized it's staff, gave 6 digit pay raises to its department heads and now it's going to spend 20 million plus on a building that's 87,000 sq ft? I thought the city down sized and was broke. (scratches head) 6) When the Performing Arts building was initially approved by city voters it was only suppose to cost around $23 million, but wound up costing over $60 million and what do we have now? A building that the city can't manage, doesn't fully utilize, and costs $500,000 a month just in utilities to run. Why the hell didn't they build city hall into the performing arts building back then? I have two words " Rogue Government"
THEY ARE GOING TO TRY AND RENT OUT OUR POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS TO MELVINDALE AND ALLEN PARK. GREAT IDEA HUH? I FOR ONE I JUST HOPE THE BOYS ARE IN TOWN WHEN US TAXPAYERS NEED THEM.. BOB
Are they Fricken Kidding US What supporters? The handful of blind counsel people that voted for this future financial fiscal. I can see it now. I envision myself planning a shopping spree at Old City Hall, with all the extra money left over, from BS Taxes and special assessments (SAD), then spending all that money in Downtown East Dearborn, because of the new Mega Magnet Art Gallery. I know this is just a bad dream and I am going to wake up from this nightmare soon.
I am so glad that before the end of the year, my residence AND my business will be out of this @#%@*% city.
The questions and answers that should have been communicated to the residents include: Who is Art Space? Where are other Art Space buildings? And how successful are these? Have the City or Art Space done a feasibility study on having City Hall converted to an Art community? And what is the result? What is the selling price of City Hall? And have Art Space proposed and presented a plan for conversion, renovations of City Hall to studios and galleries? And what is the investment Art Space is committing to? What is the cost of the new proposed building? What additional cost is budgeted for renovation, making it feasible for City administration to move in? And what is the cost for the physical move? Will Dearborn Schools administration move to the new building? And what is the budget and renovations for that move? What is the time line for the proposed move? These are some of the information that should have been given to the residents; we have a City Communication Department that should have gone out and talked to people in open meetings and all other ways of communication by social media, press releases and other means of communication. Remember, City Hall is the heart of the city.
One thing I will agree with is the City of Dearborn needs to be transparent, in large and small financial decisions, they are suppose to represent the majority. The City Hall has had so many Multi-Million dollar failures that have been pushed under the rug that most of the general public will never know, until we end up with an emergency manager. What the is wrong with the current school administrative building? Most of Dearborn's citizens are blindly accepting more debt, without looking at the past accumulated debt and getting starry eyed about a rosy picture being painted. The main problem and mentality that cause our current Depression is and was debt that people, government, and corporations could not pay for, then defaulted on. But I guess if people think it's OK to spend, spend, spend, then default on debt and scam the system then sell City Hall and expand. If City Hall would have conserved and saved money, in the past, then they would have had plenty of money to buy this building and make the move, but the fact is they are extremely poor money managers and spend more than they have, thus the current deficit. So I ask fellow citizens, in times of huge debt and financial crisis do you personally spend, or do you tighten your belts?
That being said, this plan to sell city hall is absolutely insane. There are plenty of other historic and underutilized properties in this city. Why in heaven's name is our mayor (and city council) doing this? Whenever the mayor does something stupid, I keep saying "This is the last straw." This might just be it. Will someone please pull recall petitions on this guy? He may have the greatest ideas in the world, but he has absolutely NO ability to sell them to the public. He spends millions on private companies to survey us, then he just makes an announcement as to what he is going to do. He has zero ability to relate to the public he has been elected to serve. Politicians can't just push through huge changes (pools, libraries, selling city hall) without a good public message and expect NOt to piss people off. O'Reilly is an example of a politician who has never learned how to build a consensus or coalition to make anything happen. He has always won his elections because of his name. It's about time he learn what happens when he does things people don't like. He does NOT have carte blanche to do whatever he wants. He has never learned this.
My wife and I are starting to regret returning here and purchasing a home. I have absolutely no confidence in this mayor to do anything productive, fair, just or open. He just does what he wants, and WILL NOT ACCEPT DISSENT from the residents. He's a bully and has been since his screaming matches with Mayor Guido when he was council president. I remember watching council meetings and when he didn't get his way, he was absolutely terrifying. His face would turn red and he would scream It should be no surprise to anyone that he is governing from the mayor's chair the exact same way he did from the council president's chair.
regards to reliable brokers to work with.