Sibley sale imminent

This story has been updated.

Rochester Mayor Tom Richards announced today that the sale
of the Sibley building to a Winn Development company is practically imminent.
Richards is submitting legislation to City Council “that would allow for the
sale and transfer of ownership” of the building for educational, residential,
office, and retail use, says a city press release.

The sale price is $5 million. Not included in the deal is the nearly $20 million in
outstanding debt owed by the building’s current owner, Rochwil Associates. The
Winn company will take responsibility for a $3.1
million loan the city made to Rochwil, however. The $20 million debt will stay
with Rochwil, but the city does not expect payment, Richards says.

Richards has repeatedly rebuffed calls from some in the
community to aggressively pursue the $20 million. The most important thing, he has
said, is to sell Sibley and get the building “back into productive use.”

“It’s time we break with what was and move on to what will
be,” Richards says. “The redevelopment and use of the Sibley building is vital
to our ongoing downtown revitalization efforts.”

A Winn representative told City last month that the historic
Sibley building would be converted to mixed use with retail on the first and
second floors, office space on floors three to six, and housing on floors seven
to 12 — the Sibley Tower.

An application will be made to COMIDA for a 20-year
tax-abatement agreement for the Winn company, the
press release says. It says the agreement will set a baseline tax payment that
would increase as the Sibley building is redeveloped and leased.

This article appears in Aug 29 – Sep 4, 2012.