I was at last night's special meeting of the Middletown Township Committee to hear the introduction of the new Town Hall Municipal Complex. I was interested in hearing how much it will cost us taxpayers.
The township entered into a public /private P3 agreement with a developer called Brandywine Acquisitions & Development . Brandywine will front upwards of $56.7M to build a new 72'000 sqft Municipal Complex. Brandywine will then recoup its investment by leasing the new complex back to the Township for $3.6M a year for 30 years. At the end of the 30 year lease Middletown can buy back the property from Brandywine for $1.
Sounds like a great deal until you try to work out the fuzzy math.
The Township can build a new municipal complex on its own for ~$60M (or less) but appears to prefer to pay Brandywine $108M in lease payments over the life of the 30 year lease just so the town doesn't have to payout any upfront costs. When the documents become available they must be looked at closely to see the structure of the payments. In the meantime, Middletown plans on signing the development deal within the next 10 days.
The Asbury Park Press has an article online this morning concerning the project. It pretty much confirms what I posted last night to my Facebook page.
Showing posts with label lease agreement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lease agreement. Show all posts
Friday, December 7, 2018
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
For those interested in the fate of the Lincroft Library building.....
At tonight's Special Meeting of the Board of Education taking place at 6:30pm at the August T. Miner (Board of Ed) Administrative building on Leonardville Road, the board plans to enter into a five year lease agreement with the township for use of the Lincroft Library building for administrative offices, leasing the building for just $1 per year to the township.
In reading the lease, it is not clear what administrative offices would be housed in the building, and whether Crossroads drug rehab counseling center is outside of the allowed use, seeing how Crossroads is in the process of vacating Croydon Hall to move there. Furthermore, the Lincroft community was not given the opportunity to collaborate with the Board of Education on the use of the building, as Dr. George had promised would happen. Members of the community felt strongly that if they were going to lose the library then they would want the future use to be in line with what was lost, i.e., for the building to have an educational use that benefits the children. While the Board of Education may not have an educational purpose for this building now, they may have one later. A shorter term lease should be given and then the use of the property could re-assessed in a new budget year.
It would seem that the residents and students of Lincroft all lose out on this deal. Educational enrichment, clubs, community center, etc..... are all possibilities that could be of benefit to students and the community. How does leasing the building for the township's administrative offices benefit any students other than those who will be attending the all girl "Catholic" school, Trinity Hall? Did they even think in a progressive way at all or reach out to non-profits, Brookdale, or other educational entities to see if there would be a better fit for the building or community? Apparently not.
You would think that after constantly being reminded by the Township Committee that 62% of all taxes collected in Middletown goes to the Board of Education and that is why our taxes are sooo high, the Board of Eduction would want to off set those taxes in someway by leasing the building to someone that would pay more than $1 per year. Again, apparently not.
The agenda and property agreement to lease the Lincroft Library to the Township can be found - HERE
(Thanks to M.E. for the heads up)
In reading the lease, it is not clear what administrative offices would be housed in the building, and whether Crossroads drug rehab counseling center is outside of the allowed use, seeing how Crossroads is in the process of vacating Croydon Hall to move there. Furthermore, the Lincroft community was not given the opportunity to collaborate with the Board of Education on the use of the building, as Dr. George had promised would happen. Members of the community felt strongly that if they were going to lose the library then they would want the future use to be in line with what was lost, i.e., for the building to have an educational use that benefits the children. While the Board of Education may not have an educational purpose for this building now, they may have one later. A shorter term lease should be given and then the use of the property could re-assessed in a new budget year.
It would seem that the residents and students of Lincroft all lose out on this deal. Educational enrichment, clubs, community center, etc..... are all possibilities that could be of benefit to students and the community. How does leasing the building for the township's administrative offices benefit any students other than those who will be attending the all girl "Catholic" school, Trinity Hall? Did they even think in a progressive way at all or reach out to non-profits, Brookdale, or other educational entities to see if there would be a better fit for the building or community? Apparently not.
You would think that after constantly being reminded by the Township Committee that 62% of all taxes collected in Middletown goes to the Board of Education and that is why our taxes are sooo high, the Board of Eduction would want to off set those taxes in someway by leasing the building to someone that would pay more than $1 per year. Again, apparently not.
The agenda and property agreement to lease the Lincroft Library to the Township can be found - HERE
(Thanks to M.E. for the heads up)
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