Centra Homes Purchase Agreement [portions of case may be closed to the public]

PURPOSE
Consider the attached purchase agreement for Centra Homes to purchase roughly 4.29 acres of city-owned land located in The COR for a single family detached housing development.

The structure of this Purchase Agreement is a little unique, in that it contemplates three layouts, with three different lot counts (33, 35, 36), with three different offer prices ($295,000, $315,000, $330,000).  The developer has indicated the asking price is based on a mixture of the number of sellable lots versus required infrastructure.  Staff anticipates, through the future entitlement process, a layout will be selected, and this purchase agreement will be amended to formalize the final sale price. 

BACKGROUND
Please see attached cover letter.  Please see company website.  Centra Homes is in good standing with the State of Minnesota business filing search system.  Staff has not worked with Centra Homes on a project in Ramsey.  However, staff has been working with Centra Homes for the past few months, as they have contemplated several sites in Ramsey. 

 

NA

↵This purchase agreement was developed based on the city's template purchase agreement and policy for selling city owned land.  The City Attorney has reviewed the attached purchase agreement.  Below are major deal terms.

• Lot Size: roughly 4.29 acres
• Price: offer price (295K to 315K), asking price $350,000
• Earnest Money: $10,000
• Inspection Period: 07/01/2018* (closing within 30 days)
• Extension Period: two 30 day options at $5,000 each.
• Construction Deadline: 5 COs annually, starting in 2019, $5,000 penalty per missed CO
• Exhibits: show the proposed layouts

*Council won't review this case until mid-February, the inspection period is proposed to be about 4.5 months.

NA

STAFF
Staff is generally comfortable with the proposed purchase agreement.  The proposed "concept site layout" appears to generally meet the City's zoning code and vision for The COR.  Please reference staff's closed session MEMO for details.


EDA
The EDA is generally comfortable with the proposed purchase agreement.  The EDA generally preferred Layout C, which happens to be the lowest asking price, due to the increased number of rooftops (traffic) and tax base created.  The EDA did request staff counter offer the developer on price.


PLANNING COMMISSION PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE
Unlike most PAs considered by the city, the Centra Homes PA (proposed project) is completely surrounded, on all four sides, by a significant level of existing development, and significant number of existing residents.  Staff felt it was appropriate to complete a proactive public engagement step for the Centra Homes PA (proposed project). 

A public open house was conducted before the regular Planning Commission meeting on 02/08/2018 for this proposed project.  Notifications were sent to all nearby residents.

About ten residents attended the public open house for the Centra Homes PA (proposed project); which included four individual Planning Commission members.  In summary, all but one attendee was generally supportive of the project concept, specifically concept layout 3.  One resident, located in the adjacent townhomes, was opposed to the project in general, regardless of the layout.  Attached is a summary from the public open house.

Staff is comfortable with the feedback provided by the public and informally by individual Planning Commission members on this project.  Moving forward, this "project concept layout" will be reviewed again by the Planning Commission formally in March for additional comments. 

 

Motion to recommend the City Council:
Approve the attached purchase agreement with Centra Homes for 4.29 acres of city-owned land.