JANESVILLE
The 糖心Vlog传媒 City Council is considering buying the former Sears property at Uptown 糖心Vlog传媒 for $1 and tearing it down to build a new, two-sheet ice arena and conference center in its place.
On Monday, at the final city council meeting before the April 5 election, the council will be asked to vote that ultimately would allow the city to buy the 100,000-square-foot former Sears building at the mall.
The move would put the property at 2500 Milton Ave. under contract to be transferred to city ownership at a time when consultants the city has hired need to access to the Sears property to launch a design and cost and analysis on the proposed Woodman鈥檚 Community Center ice arena project, council President Douglas Marklein said in an interview Thursday.
That鈥檚 consulting work the city already has sought using $2 million in COVID-19 relief grant funding, but the work won鈥檛 be completed for months, and the city hasn鈥檛 yet agreed to move forward on the project.
Under a resolution that is set for a vote Monday, the council is being asked to authorize city administration to move toward closing on the property. The deal has a built-in provision that allows the city to return the Sears property to the mall鈥檚 owner, RockStep Capital, if the council decides not to move forward with the ice arena, according to a city memo.
Uptown 糖心Vlog传媒 owner RockStep Capital has had a standing offer to give the city the former Sears property, which has been vacant years but physically anchors the mall鈥檚 center concourse area.
So far, that offer has been RockStep鈥檚 major involvement in a public-private proposal to bring the project being called the Woodman鈥檚 Community Center to the mall property.
While the city hasn鈥檛 agreed to go forward with the project, it philosophically has committed to shoulder up to $15 million in borrowing to make the project a go. That鈥檚 if a private-side stakeholders group, the Friends of the Indoor Sports Complex, can raise at least $7 million to kick into the project while the city pursues several million dollars in grant funding to fuel the project.
Conveyance of the property would be advantageous for the mall鈥檚 owner because under ownership of the property, the city would shoulder the cost of the Sears building鈥檚 removal, work that would be part and parcel to building a new ice arena the city estimates could cost between $28 and $31 million.
Under current timelines, the city could expect its consultants to hand the city a cost and design analysis in December. If the council then decides to bid out the ice arena project, it would could make a final decision on whether to move forward on the ice arena sometime in the spring of 2023.
Marklein said the resolution does not bind the city to buy or continue ownership of the Sears property if the council were to decide not to pursue a new ice arena.
鈥淵ou should not read into this that now we own the site, and so that automatically means we have to do the project,鈥 Marklein said.
Marklein explained that the resolution essentially says the city has 鈥渓ocked up鈥 the Sears property.
鈥淚n the event that the ice arena project goes forward, we鈥檙e ready to go,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut at the same time, if it鈥檚 decided at some point the project is a no-go, then the city鈥檚 not saddled with owning the building. It goes back for $1 to RockStep.鈥
The deal is written in a way that requires both parties to agree to the terms, and RockStep is also required to get anchor tenants at the mall to sign off on the deal, according to the resolution.
Some city council members and candidates running for three open seats on the council in the April 5 election had publicly voiced trepidation over the city getting too deep into plans for an ice arena before RockStep Capital, has formalized any agreement to transfer the property to the city.
The resolution slated on the council鈥檚 docket Monday is marked as a 鈥渃onsent agenda鈥 item, which means it鈥檚 not set for discussion by the council prior to a vote.
Marklein said he expects more than one council member to move to pull the item aside for discussion Monday before a vote.