HomeMy WebLinkAboutA040 - Letter from Robert Gelina in favor of tax abatement December 18, 2000
Robert J. Gelina
2935 Ridgetop Road
Ames, Iowa 50014
Mayor & City Council
City of Ames
515 Clark Ave.
Ames, Iowa 50010
Dear Mayor and Council,
I am writing relative to the tax abatement proposal for the Somerset Addition.
Our family presently owns apartment structures in North Ames, South Ames,
Campustown, and Somerset. All the buildings have been new construction and
we have found that the building costs in Somerset are above all other areas of
the City. Even though the building costs are higher and the amenities are greater
we are not able to secure adequate rents to provide a competitive return on our
investment. We feel that the reason for this disparity is that the development is
presently not adequately built out to provide the Village atmosphere that will
make it a more desirable living environment. At this point the Somerset lacks
both an adequate population base and commercial development to support the
desirable aspects of a Village.
We support the Village concept and believe that, if completed, it will be a very
desirable neighborhood in the City of Ames. One of our big concerns is that if
the Village concept is not given support by our elected officials the developers
will look elsewhere for investment purposes. We presently own additional non-
developed multifamily ground in Somerset and feel that it may be better to put off
building until further development occurs. We are also keenly aware that others
are in the same position and further development will be slow. It is our intention
to continue to build within the City of Ames and feel that without the abatement
we will need to look elsewhere for additional development ground.
In closing, I want to make it perfectly clear that we support the Somerset Village
concept and have invested there in hopes of seeing it become a viable addition
to the City of Ames. Our biggest concern is that the rate of development has
been hampered by the costs that need to be incurred to meet the Village
requirements. We believe the tax abatement is necessary to accelerate the rate
of development to make Somerset viable for homeowners as well as multifamily
investors.
Sincerely yours,
Robert J. Gelina
,Property Owner, Somerset Addition