The City has received two separate offers for purchase of property located at the northwest corner of Franklin Avenue and Bennett Avenue. The property is classified as ‘transitional dispose’ and ‘buildable’. According to the adopted policy of March 14, 2016, the property should be priced at the appraised value or the amount most recently established by the Pottawattamie County Assessor.

The subject property makes up a portion of the land acquired to complete the Franklin Avenue relocation project. The City purchased the property on February 11, 2002, for $350,000.00. The land was subdivided into three lots and associated right-of-way.

The acquired property was 8.029 acres and 1.108 acres was dedicated for Franklin Avenue and Pickardy Lane right-of-way purposes. The balance of the property was platted into three lots:

• Lot 1 (subject property);
• Lot 2 is approximately 1/3 of an acre and includes utility easements;
• Lot 3 was sold to the abutting owner, Kum-N-Go, L.C. to accommodate a renovation of their facility. The property was sold for $47,337.75, all cash at closing.

An appraisal of each of the three lots was completed on April 15, 2004 by Thomas E. Stevens, MAI and the total estimated value was $359,000.00. The estimated value of Lot 1, Franklin Heights Subdivision was $277,300.00.

An Appraisal was completed for Lot 1, Franklin Heights Subdivision on July 10, 2008 by D. Rick Whitesides, MAI, SRA and the estimated value was $320,000.00. The City entered into a purchase agreement with Cardinal Capital Management, Inc. on February 3, 2009 to sell the property for $320,000.00 with a 0% interest 30-year deferred loan in an amount not less than $200,000.00 to be applied to the purchase price. The project did not move forward and the property was not sold.

The City entered into a purchase agreement with Real Estate Equities Homes – Council Bluffs, LLC in October 2012 for the purchase price of $320,000.00, or the value as set forth in an appraisal by a mutually agreeable appraisal to the seller and buyer. The project did not move forward and the property was not sold.

An appraisal was completed on July 27, 2017 by D. Rick Whitesides, MAI, SRA with a value of $275,000.00.

OTB-18-013: The offer from Ronald D. Johnson is in the amount $275,000.00. The offer indicates he intends to build new residences spaces. He proposes construction of 16, 2-bedroom townhomes. Each unit would be approximately 1,500 square feet and priced at approximately $265,000. The estimated assessed tax value for the completed project is estimated at $9 Million.

OTB-18-016: The offer from Michael Rensch DDS is in the amount of $150,000.00. The purchase offer requests a 3 year tax abatement with a ten year graduated increase. The applicant made a similar offer in 2017, CASE #OTB-17-002; the City Council took no action. The proposal is to develop a 6,000 square foot professional office building. Total estimated site and building costs are $1,365,582.00.

Any future disposal of this property should be subject to a development agreement.