Garden City trustees and the public heard from consultant Karen Backus of Karen Backus & Associates, Inc. (KBA) June 15 as she provided an update on the feasibility of privately redeveloping the historic Main Building at St. Paul's. The village retained KBA last summer.

After testing the market, Backus and her team discovered that there is enough interest among developers to take on such a project and suggested the village issue a Request For Proposal (RFP). It is important to note that the athletic fields at St. Paul's would not be included in the RFP. The list of interested developers will be made public once the RFP is issued.

"This is the only way to get real proposals with real uses, real designs and real financial offers on the table that you can evaluate," Backus said, adding that the RFP should require proposals for development substantially within the existing building envelope while still providing a flexible framework to allow for developer creativity and other options.

Backus suggested issuing the RFP in July, giving developers three months to respond and hearing proposals in October.

Trustee Donald Brudie confirmed with Backus that when the RFP is issued, developers are not to be restricted to high-end condominium development. Backus confirmed the same, stating that if a developer has another concept, the board should certainly evaluate it.

"The board was concerned about the tax impact of publicly renovating, maintaining and operating the buildings at St. Paul's," Mayor Gerard Lundquist said. "Karen Backus was retained to perform a systematic assessment to help the board determine if a private development alternative for St. Paul's was feasible and to test the market for such a proposal. We didn't want to expend the time, energy and funds on something that had no hope of success."

The mayor continued, noting that the board remains very concerned about the drain on village funds that St. Paul's represents - close to $100,000 a year in operating expenses to heat an empty building and the looming possibility of replacing the entire roof at cost of over $4 million.

"Our expert consultants tell us that minimal renovation for public use would cost approximately $53 million, it could be even more, and that concerns us greatly," Mayor Lundquist continued. "The good news that Ms. Backus will tell us tonight is that private development of upscale condominiums is feasible at St. Paul's while preserving the historic appearance of the buildings to the extent possible."

Charged with assessing the feasibility of private redevelopment, coupled with restoring the façade and other distinguished features of the Main Building to the extent possible and providing for their long-term maintenance at no cost to village taxpayers, Backus, along with her team - Grubb & Ellis (market analysis), Furnstahl & Simon (architect); and Turner Construction Company (cost estimator), initiated a study in August 2005 and completed that study in December 2005. Study findings were reported in public at the Dec. 15, 2005 board of trustees meeting.

The team's initial findings kept Backus "cautiously optimistic" because although restoration/reconstruction within the existing building envelope proves possible, it does pose significant development risk.

"The viability of the project really relies on three things," Backus noted. "It was really hard to find enough salable floor space to make the project work financially. Two options my team looked at were the possibility of redeveloping the basement level of the Main Building to residential use and also redeveloping Ellis Hall for residential use."

Backus continued, adding, "Secondly, we said that the project really relied on continued, robust sale prices for condominium use in the local market. Thirdly, we were worried about extraordinary construction contingencies, which is always an issue when you're dealing with a very old building like St. Paul's."

Despite all this, the team concluded this could be accomplished through increasing usable area space, improving condominium layouts and allowing for some additional - but minimal - construction.

The team identified a pool of developers with experience in historic preservation and/or upscale residential development. "We were very, very pleased that nine firms so far, with one or two additional tours scheduled, were interested enough to tour the building," Backus said. "I think this is a terrific result because I just want to emphasize again that this is a tough project. It's really not for everybody. So the fact that between more than one-third and less than half of the people we reached out to were interested in coming out with us, we think is significant."

Market testing verified that there is "substantial private sector interest in redeveloping St. Paul's for residential use." Further, and perhaps most important to several residents, the testing also verified that the significant historic elements of St. Paul's could in fact be saved at no cost to village taxpayers.

The team discovered that developers showed significant interest in building "substantially" within the existing building envelope. Further, many saw ways to increase usable floor area within the existing building structure by incorporating duplex apartments with basement level, reconfiguring interior corridors and capturing wasted space in those very wide corridors to be incorporated into apartment units and adding mezzanine or loft space.

"All the developers we spoke to, without exception, saw upscale residential use as really the only use that was able to support the cost of redevelopment," Backus said. All but one firm specified upscale condominium use; one preferred upscale rentals.

"[Developers] were very charmed by the building, very excited by its historic character," Backus said, "and found multiple creative solutions for increasing usable floor area and creating attractive, salable apartments, most within the existing envelope."

Ellis Hall was a "tough one" for developers, Backus said. Some suggested tearing it down, others opted to reconfigure the space for residential use. Many, Backus noted, wanted the option to move Ellis Hall's floor area of approximately 16,000 square feet elsewhere on the site.

Further, every developer the team spoke to voiced grave concern about the cost of incorporating below-grade parking. "Every developer was told that parking for the project would have to be almost entirely below grade and this is very expensive and difficult to accomplish," Backus noted.

With regard to public use, Backus said they "pretty much uniformly" felt that community use of the building is really not compatible with upscale residential. "They all were planning to build amenity space and meeting rooms for the building residents and some of them felt that it might be possible to let the community use those rooms but it would really be up to the condominium association - not the developer - to decide," she continued.

One or two developers suggested other uses that would be open to the public, like a restaurant or high-end spa. "It was very interesting to see how they interpreted public use," Backus said.

Moreover, developers were cautious about the small size of the project - the small number of units - and its ability to support the high cost of construction, parking and maintenance. According to Backus, based on the market analysis her team performed, the project could provide anywhere from 60 to 75 condominium units. "No one has yet laid this out with precision," Backus noted.

Peter Negri of Tenth Street, a former village trustee who now serves as president of the Committee to Save St. Paul's, criticized the recently mailed Village Facts. "Unfortunately, I really don't feel that people are getting the true facts," he said, adding that the Committee to Save St. Paul's has raised $60,000 and has engaged two professionals with extensive experience in historic preservation. "We will bring to the village a detailed and affordable proposal based upon professional expertise, with input from the village, from you the residents, in the fall. Now that's a fact," Negri said.

Trustee John Watras stated - for the record - that he did not sign his name to the Village Facts: "I wouldn't sign my name to that, no way, shape or form," he emphatically said, adding, "St. Paul's was bought by the people for the people. I know no other use. I feel we should get St. Paul's in our rear view mirror at this point in as much as that we have a tremendous amount of challenges facing us, one of which is the HUB. The other thing is Suozzi constantly infringing on our village. We must stand up and make St. Paul's count and do something for the public, for our seniors and for our youth. Period."

John Donovan, commander of the American Legion Post in Garden City, highlighted the dire need for meeting space in the village. "I'm a little puzzled that the criteria for a successful solution was to find that it's at no cost for the citizens of Garden City as opposed to a reasonable cost for the citizens of Garden City. I think it needs to support the needs of our village residents and that's why I'm here tonight ... I think it's important that 1,330 plus households in the Village of Garden City get veterans' exemptions. There are a lot of veterans here and there's a lot of support. We need significant support by the village. We get quite a bit of that but we need space..."

Donovan noted a space is needed to accommodate the Legion's desire to sponsor seminars for veterans in Garden City in the future and more.

Bob Bolebruch of Kenmore Road reminded everyone that St. Paul's is part of the village's history and its heritage and it should be part of its future.

Daniel Karas, current president of the Central Property Owners' Association (CPOA), reiterated the CPOA's position on the private redevelopment of St. Paul's. "...The Central Property Owners' Association does not support private use of the historic Main Building," Karas said. "Further resolved, that the historic Main Building remain in public hands for future generations."

Charlotte Bolton, representing the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, added, "I'm very encouraged to hear that you will be ... entertaining RFPs which may contain other types of proposals ... Unless the RFP is crafted to encourage creative uses of other types, you're probably unlikely to get those proposals. Be very careful in crafting the contents of the RFP so that it does solicit a range of feasible alternatives for the building."

"It's a multi-step process," Mayor Lundquist said, noting that the board must first determine whether or not a feasible proposal exists. That obviously must be done after the RFP is issued. "We would then seek to get public input to see if we'd have a majority that would favor it and then we would seek it," he explained.

"First you have to have a proposal that's viable, that's backed by the majority of the people in the village," Mayor Lundquist continued. "Then we can go forward to our state representatives with that in order to gain home rule legislation. We wouldn't obviously go to that point if we didn't have a proposal that was worthwhile pursuing."

The board, although encouraged that several highly respected firms with records of success in historic redevelopment have expressed strong interest, wants to proceed cautiously and prudently. "We plan to issue an RFP so we can get those detailed proposals to consider so the board and community can make informed decisions," Mayor Lundquist said. "... I want to assure that the board will carefully consider any detailed and very specific financial and operational plans that are proposed.

"The issue has dragged on for 13 years. The building cannot wait. It's time for the village to act one way or another. We cannot afford another 13 years of expensive maintenance without getting any productive use for this facility."

He assured that before the board takes any action to approve upscale condominiums at St. Paul's two things would have to happen: a full and thorough examination and discussion of the proposals so that all may be heard and their comments considered. "We will actively solicit public opinion," he said. Further, if the board decides to move ahead, it must request home rule legislation from the state legislature to change the status of what is now parkland.