Deputy city manager Tony Caudle presented a resolution for Wilmington City Council to move forward with a Memo of Understanding (MOU) regarding East West Partners Management Company and their work on the Water Street Parking Deck at a meeting Tuesday, May 19.
“An MOU is a framework. It is an agreement between parties,” Caudle said. “There is a period of time, six months, in which the particular property…is under exclusive rights for negotiation.”
Caudle said, construction plans may change as the project develops.
“It is not specific as to what the building will look like or how the cost-sharing will be,” he said.
Caudle said even the number of parking spaces included in the completed structure may change. “We know the target is 508 spaces,” he said.
Currently, the plan allots for 280 spaces to be available for public use and 225 spaces to be leased or purchased by East West.
“We, the city, conduct Phase 1 and Phase 2 analyses of the property. …We believe that will help us move forward in our negotiations,” Caudle said.
East West will have negotiation rights with the city for 180 days.
“East West will provide us with an updated cost for the total facility,” Caudle said. “We’ll be at about 50 percent design when we get through the 180-day period.”
Caudle offered to answer questions from the council.
“There are going to be more questions than I can answer,” he said. “We’ve focused on interests and not positions. …I will close by telling you the folks at East West have already agreed to the terms of the MOU.”
Caudle assured the council members they will be updated on the project’s progress.
“In terms of council, you’ll get a chance to look at those designs as we go along. …There are schematic designs that have been forwarded to you.”
Caudle also addressed the issue that the city’s original plan for the project included 300 parking spaces for public use. Caudle negotiated the number of spaces with East West’s Roger Perry.
“They asked that we go down to 250. We went down to 280,” he said.
Wilmington City Council Member Neil Anderson voiced his objection. He said adding more public parking spaces would promote economic growth for businesses downtown.
“In retail, the closer you can get to parking, the more successful you’ll be,” Anderson said. “The idea for this project was to be a catalyst. …That worries me we’re not going to reap all the rewards by cutting down on parking.”
Council member Laura Padgett voiced different concerns.
“Overall, the project has too much parking. It’s too large,” she said.
Padgett was concerned the development will reduce the charm of downtown Wilmington’s waterfront.
“It will change our downtown,” she said. “We have an important and valuable feature in our waterfront and people will walk to it. We don’t need to deposit them out of their cars,” she said.
The resolution was passed unanimously at the end of the meeting.
email [email protected]
