Downtown Riverfront Property

Reuse of City-owned property located downtown along the east riverfront, north of the Municipal Building, has been under consideration since the Police Department moved from the site to a new station in 2019. The process to date has included:

Comprehensive Plan update- Adopted in 2020
Request for Concepts review - Concluded in 2022 (all concepts rejected)
Feasibility Study - Proposed in 2023, initiated in 2024 (currently underway)

Details on the process and timeline are listed below.

Background/Timeline

Comprehensive Plan update

Police Department moved to a new facility in 2019. The City’ 2013 Comprehensive Plan, which is the advisory, long-range policy guide for development, did not specify any future re-use for the property.
Comprehensive Plan Amendment was initiated in Spring 2019 to plan for future reuse.
City solicited input and conducted an Open House in 2019 that was well attended.
Plan was discussed by the Plan Commission over a number of meetings in 2019.
The Plan amendment was presented to P&D Committee in Feb. 2020.
Plan added the Police Station site as a Downtown Subarea “Catalyst Site”- defined in the plan as “underutilized properties where redevelopment could have a catalytic impact on the surrounding area.” The plan recommended an open space corridor along the river, and mixed-use redevelopment of the Police Station property.
Plan was adopted following a public hearing in August 2020.
Additional information is available on the Comprehensive Plan Project Page.

Request for Concepts

In March 2020, City Council held a workshop to develop the parameters of a Request for Proposals (RFP) based around the Comprehensive Plan recommendations.
Draft RFP was presented to P&D Committee in June 2020. Committee decided to hold off on issuing the document due to the economic environment.
At a Council Retreat Workshop in Sept. 25, 2021, the topic was discussed, and the Council directed staff to move forward with a scaled down Request for Concepts to allow for submittal of conceptual plans to encourage creativity in responses.
Draft Request for Concepts presented to P&D in October 2021.
Request for Concepts issued on Nov. 15, 2021; responses due March 15, 2022.

Review of Responses:

On March 15, 2022, the City received four proposals from four development firms: Frontier Development, Murphy Development Group, T2 Capital Management, Flaherty & Collins. Submittals were distributed to city staff reviewed for an initial review.
In April 27, 2022, City staff sent each developer a list of questions and requested a response by May 27, 2022. Each developer was permitted to provide updated site plans, renderings, or other modified documents to better illustrate the project.
On July 25, 2022, the City held a City Council Workshop to review and discuss the four proposed projects. A link to the audio of the July 25 meeting can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svsp_68vzvM. At the conclusion of the meeting, City Council identified which proposed projects/development firms were preferred. The two preferred developments firms were Murphy Development Group and Frontier Development. Per the City Council’s request, City staff invited all four developers to present to City Council. Only Murphy Development Group and Frontier Development opted to proceed and present to City Council. The Summary and Presentation of Submittals for the Former Police Station site is posted on the City's YouTube Channel. View it here https://youtu.be/8u2lRWgY61E
On Oct. 7, 2022, updated plans and information from the developers were posted on the City website. See files titled "New."
On Oct. 10, 2022 the City’s Planning and Development Committee met and heard presentations for both Murphy Development Group and Frontier Development. There was no committee discussion at the meeting. View the meeting here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=utL_UN5cMiw
On December 12, 2022, the Planning and Development Committee discussed the submittals and ultimately recommended to return all submitted plans with an invitation to resubmit along with other new proposals once new guidelines for feasibility have been developed.
On December 19, 2022, City Council voted to reject all proposals received for the Request for Concept Proposals for the Downtown Riverfront Property (former Police Station Site Area Redevelopment). City Council gave staff direction to hire a firm to conduct a feasibility study to investigate the site further. The scope of feasibility study will include utilities analysis, parking possibilities, demolition costs, among other site challenges.

Feasibility Study

On September 19, 2023 the City issued an Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking a firm to conduct a development feasibility study of the former PD Site property. This RFP is NOT to seeking development proposals or concepts from developers. The intent of the development feasibility study is to evaluate the site from a land-use, infrastructure, and financial perspective to determine feasible development options that align with the City’s vision of the property.
On May 6, 2024, the Government Operations Committee reviewed a proposal from Solomon Cordwell Buenz to conduct the feasibility study. The proposal was approved by City Council on May 20, 2024. The scope of services is limited to a technical analysis of the site and includes Environmental Assessment, Geotechical Analysis, Floodplain Mitigation Analysis, Utility Analysis, Demolition Costs, Traffic Study and Parking Analysis.
The staff is currently working with Solomon Cordwell Buenz on the Feasibility Study. As of November 22, 2024 the consultant has completed draft background information including Neighborhood context & demographics, Description of surrounding neighborhood assets, and the History of the site & buildings. Preliminary drafts of the Environment Assessment, Geotechnical Analysis, Utility Analysis, and Traffic Study have been completed. With a majority of technical work completed onsite, the consultants have begun to analyze and compile the data to get a better understanding to the barriers or constraints to the site. The final report is expected to be completed in early 2025.