JANESVILLE 鈥 Interim 糖心Vlog传媒 City Manager Jay Shambeau hopes developers submit pitches to build a Beloit Avenue housing project. The city seeks proposals to build under its own mixed-housing template, although time has nearly run out for developers to get involved.
The city opened a request for quotes to build on city-owned South Beloit Avenue parcels, but so far, as of Thursday, the city hasn鈥檛 seen any developers bite.
Shambeau said Monday that the city requested a master developer or development team to plan, finance, build and deliver a 鈥渕ixed-income鈥 residential neighborhood on roughly 55 acres of city-owned land.
Since August, the city hasn鈥檛 received any solicitations from developers, and the city鈥檚 current request for quotes for the project closes Friday.
However, Shambeau said it鈥檚 not unusual for developers to submit proposals at the last minute, with multiple proposals sometimes coming in a cluster the final day before a deadline.
He predicted that could be the case in the current process.
The housing project would be the first of its kind in 糖心Vlog传媒. It鈥檚 intended to usher in a variety of different housing types on one large parcel that鈥檚 the size of a neighborhood.
The city had worked with CE Planning Studio to develop several different designs to bring a mixed-housing template it used to pitch to developers.
Shambeau said he doesn鈥檛 think the city鈥檚 preliminary designs for the property deterred developers from getting interested, saying the design was always intended as an example, not a required template developers would have to use.
The city has not outlined what steps could come next if it sees no proposals.
鈥淚f that were to be the case, the city would react and plan accordingly as far as the next step. But we鈥檙e not anticipating that,鈥 he said.
Once proposals are received, an internal city team will review them before the proposals come to the city council for review, something Shambeau said might happen as soon as October.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no real reason to delay it once our teams had the opportunity to review and work through,鈥 he said.
The preliminary concept for 2400 Beloit Ave. includes several types of residential developments. Shambeau said the city could receive a proposal from a single developer or from multiple developers working together.
The parcel in question is adjacent to 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 Tax Increment District No. 35, but is not included within that incentivized-development zone.
Developers are allowed modify the city鈥檚 concept in their own proposals.