BL_NOV_CentrePointe-680x1024.jpg
BL_NOV_CentrePointe
An attorney for the City of Lexington and consultants hired to study potential sites for a new city hall met late last week in New York City with the development team that has taken over the long-stalled CentrePointe project in downtown Lexington.
Lexington attorney Mason Miller said the meeting at Bridgeton Holdings’ offices was largely introductory in nature.
“It was a useful meeting,” said Miller. “It gave our consultants a chance to meet the developers and get a better picture of what they want to do with the site; really, to introduce themselves to each other.”
The city recently hired the consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle for $198,500 to conduct a 90-day study of city-owned and private properties to gauge where a new city hall could be built. Bridgeton Holdings, led by CEO Atit Jariwala, and a chief investor, Kentuckian Matt Collins, announced in August they had taken over the moribund CentrePointe site from original developers the Webb Companies.
The new developers immediately suggested building a new city hall could be a key component for the project, but since many questions and few details have emerged.
Members of the Lexington Fayette Urban County Council increasingly are seeking signs of progress in the CentrePointe project. During a recent meeting, council member-at-large Richard Moloney asked for an update. Miller said Bridgeton Holdings had met with several national and local construction management companies and architects.
“They told me they have worked with various banks,” Miller told Moloney. “I don’t know their identity.”
“Are we still the main tenant to make this project work for them?” Moloney asked.
Miller said yes.
Asked later whether a new city hall is essential to the plan and if the site can be developed without it, Miller softened his stance.
“It has a wonderful opportunity to be developed into a number of different things, including a city hall,” he said. Miller added that the developers did not indicate whether a hotel, apartments and an office building would still be part of their plans.
Jonathan Miller, a Lexington attorney who represents Bridgeton Holdings in this development project, declined to comment on the project.
“We’re deferring all comments until this whole process of studying and negotiation is resolved. You can talk to the mayor’s office,” he said. “This is a sensitive period of negotiation and we won’t be making any public comment. We respect the political process.”
When the city issued a request for proposal for studying potential sites for a new city hall, it said consultants would examine how the LFUCG uses its current space and develop plans for using future space, as well as where the city should build a new government center.
Mason Miller said the public had reason to be optimistic about developing the CentrePointe block, which for nearly two years has stood as an excavated pit in the heart of downtown.
“I think progress has been made since the day the original developers turned it over to someone who had an opportunity to actually complete the project,” said Miller. However, he acknowledged that the resumption of any construction at the site was still many months away.
Miller also noted that building a new city hall is far from a new goal and took a swipe at previous efforts to build a replacement for the current 90-year-old building, which is costly to maintain.
“Unlike administrations in the past that acted before doing due diligence and figuring out the best course, this administration has at least exercised foresight, taken the time and hired the right consultants before making any decisions,” said Miller. “We’re going to look before we leap this time.”