Concerns remain on lack of tech tenants
The Vista Technology Campus has cleared another developmental hurdle with the Bethlehem Town Board’s approval of a financing plan that is intended to make possible the construction of Vista Boulevard.
Along with the OK from the Bethlehem Central School District, Vista interests now only need to convince Albany County lawmakers to allow a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) structure to be put in place to back bonds issued through the Bethlehem Industrial Development Agency. The County Legislature will consider the proposal May 9.
As with the school board, the Town Board had extensive questions this evening. The IDA wants to handle the construction of the 3/4-mile road, to be financed through tax-free bonds. Those bonds would be bought up by private investors and then paid off by a PILOT levied on the landowner, passed on to tenants. In roundabout way, business owners will be paying for the road, but due to the nature of the agreement and state law the IDA must get all three taxing jurisdictions to sign off on the proposal.
It’s not something you see every day, and this had Town Board members quizzing Joseph Scott, the IDA’s bond counsel, on the details. Most wanted to make sure taxpayers would not end up losing out.
You’re not giving up anything, because it’s not money that you would otherwise be entitled to, Scott said.
He went on to outline how the town, county and school district would still realize the taxes already collected on the land as well as any future taxes levied on the buildings erected at the Slingerlands development. This PILOT structure would be independent of those receipts and be targeted only at repaying the bonds.
`We do not use or affect the current money that’s collectedand we’re not going to use or affect in any way the money generated by development of the site,` he said.
If the plan gets the county’s approval, the IDA would issue between $6 and $6.5 million worth of bonds, to be paid back over a 25-year term. These would be non-recourse bonds, meaning the IDA would not be held accountable should tenants default on their payments. Investors would only be able to go after a mortgage on the Vista property in a default scenario.
The IDA has been pursuing a financing plan for months now. Though there was a great deal of excitement about the tech park plans, development has been stalled for years, thanks in no small part to the recession. Now that interest is picking up a lack of any infrastructure at the site is holding things back, said Columbia Development’s Joe Nicolla, who related a now-familiar story about an interested business owner wondering if he’d have to helicopter his employees in.
Nicolla said he has leases secured from four tenants with plenty more interested in the site.
`Very soon we’re going to have those people on the dotted line, as soon as we get going [on the road],` he said.
Those four tenants are for the retail component of the project, though, which Councilman Mark Hennessey cited as his key reason for casting tonight’s only dissenting vote.
`Just even one [technology tenant] would give me enough lack of concern that I could support this,` he said. `I promised the people in Slingerlands we would push forward with a technology campus, not a retail campus.`
During the meeting, Nicolla disclosed that a tech company interested in a 100,000-square-foot building had decided to locate in Clifton Park because Vista would not be ready in time for its relocation.
Hennessey voted in favor of the financing structure as a member of the IDA board, but explained that while a win for the IDA this issue is different from the town’s perspective.
Others, including Mike Tucker, president of the Center for Economic Growth and former head of the IDA, said with high-tech businesses coming to the area, making sure Vista is ready is important.
`It’s critical that this town have the ability to attract industrial and commercial development beyond retail development,` he said during the meeting’s public comment period. `In this economy, it’s important the town is ready. Shovel ready.`
Others in the audience panned not only the idea of having a public body involved in the project, but also criticized Vista’s retail component. My Place owner Jim Giacone said he knows many business owners in town who feel residential growth hasn’t kept pace with retail expansion.
`It seems to be quite out of whack,` he said. `The pie gets littler for every independent business.`
Vista would be home to a CVS, SEFCU, Berkshire Bank and restaurants. The main retail tenant, though, would be a ShopRite grocery store.
“
