City to purchase 30 acres for $1.65M
By Kevin Kelley
Westlake
Published March 11, 2009

The city has reached an agreement to purchase nearly 30 acres of land on Center Ridge Road just west of Westlake Porter Public Library. The purchase price is $1.65 million.

The land is currently owned by Kmart Corporation, a subsidiary of Sears Holdings. As West Life reported three weeks ago, Indianapolis-based developer Flaherty & Collins had planned to build a 240-unit apartment complex on the land. The developer had an option to purchase the land. However, the national credit crunch prevented Flaherty & Collins from obtaining financing to begin construction, according to Jim Crossin, the company’s vice president of development.

Crossin recently told West Life that his company still wanted to build the complex, which was to be known as The Residence at Westlake.

The city’s purchase of the property does not represent any attempt by city officials to revive Flaherty & Collins’ stalled apartment development plan, according to Westlake Economic Development Director Bob Parry.

Mayor Dennis Clough told West Life that it’s too soon to tell exactly what the land will be used for. An ordinance allowing the purchase, which was unanimously passed by City Council after just one reading at its Thursday regular meeting, states that “there exists a public need for the purchase of said property for future public works purposes.”

However, Clough and other city officials have repeatedly stated in recent years that a need for more recreational space — specifically soccer fields and baseball and softball diamonds — exists in the city. The mayor had previously said that Westlake has no need for additional municipal buildings.

“We have looked for recreational land to put in soccer fields and baseball fields,” Clough said after the Thursday council meeting.

In 2007, the city spent months negotiating with the Westlake Board of Elections to purchase 42 acres of undeveloped land on Bradley Road. The city wanted to use that land for recreational purposes. The school board twice rejected a city offer of $1.9 million for the land.

Clough, who said he began negotiating to buy the land about a month ago, said it’s a good deal for the city.

“Cash is an asset,” he said. “So is land.”

One million dollars of the money needed to purchase the Center Ridge Road property will come from the city’s cable television fees fund. The other $650,000 will come from the city’s recreation impact fees fund. Clough noted that both funds have traditionally been used to pay for recreation-type expenditures.

Kmart had plans in the late 1990s to build a large Super Kmart on the site. Those plans faced stiff opposition from angry area residents who held numerous community meetings to fight the big box store. The city eventually won a lengthy legal battle to stop the store from being built.

In November 2005, Westlake voters passed a referendum to rezone the property from retail to residential. The measure passed 57 to 43 percent, or 5,579 votes to 4,237. The rezoning had been recommended by the city’s planning commission in February 2004 and was backed by the administration.

The land is designated as R-MF-24, which allows townhouses, cluster homes, garden-style apartments or condominiums of no more than three floors, two-family and single family homes.

Council President Michael Killeen said it is a prudent move by the city to acquire the property, which he said was purchased by Kmart nearly 20 years ago for $4.5 million.

Previous West Life article:

• Credit crunch delays Center Ridge apartment project (Feb. 25, 2009)

On the Web:

• City of Westlake