Carmel to buy land for $20M private project
In an unusual public-private deal reached to develop a prime piece of real estate, Carmel has agreed to purchase a city block at Main Street and the Monon Greenway from Chuck Lazzara for $1.6 million and transfer it back to him for free.
The Carmel City Council unanimously approved the deal Monday with Lazzara, who also owns the Ritz Charles event center, doing business as Meridian Associates LLC. Lazzara plans a $20 million development on the property with townhomes, offices, retail and a high-end steakhouse that he and his son, Anthony Lazzara, would operate.
Corrie Meyer, director of the Carmel Redevelopment Commission, said the public-private deal is crucial to Lazzara's ability to develop the property.
"This really brings the highest and best use of that vacant lot right now," Meyer said. "We don't have a high-end locally owned steakhouse, and there is demand for that in Carmel. Having that on Main Street will drive business into our Arts & Design District and serve as a gateway for our Midtown area as well."
She said she isn't aware of Carmel making a similar deal in the past. In the agreement, Carmel will buy the 1.68-acre city block at the southwest corner of Main Street and the Monon in the Arts & Design District from Lazzara and transfer it back to him by Jan. 1.
In January, the Carmel Redevelopment Commission and the Carmel City Council will consider using tax increment financing, or TIF — property taxes collected from the site — to finance a roughly $4 million, two-story, 200-space parking garage for the development. The land transfer would allow Carmel to collect $668,720 more in property taxes through TIF over the next 20 years from the site. Such districts capture property taxes from new economic growth, and transferring the property will categorize everything on the property, including the land itself, as new growth.
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The city would then lease the parking garage back to Lazzara for $1 a year in order to collect taxes on that portion of the property as well, which marks a shift in how Carmel has handled parking garages. In past deals, they have not been taxable, something Mayor Jim Brainard has lamented.
Lazzara plans to build the parking garage, seven townhomes, a 36,000-square-foot, four-story office/retail building and a large restaurant. Lazzara and his son would operate the restaurant, a two-story, 200-seat, 12,000-square-foot high-end steakhouse called Anthony's Chophouse, at the prominent corner of Main and Monon. The restaurant would include a second-floor mezzanine featuring the bar and tap handles from the Glass Chimney, an iconic Carmel restaurant that closed in 2008 after 32 years.
The Lazzaras also would open a rooftop restaurant called 3 Up. Targeting millennials, it would feature what Lazzara described as an artistic menu rather than standard bar fare.
Lazzara doesn't believe he could develop the property into a high-end mix of projects without the public-private partnership. Parking garages, he said, are expensive and do not generate revenue, at least in suburbs like Carmel.
The city would retain a 50-foot right of way parallel to Monon as a linear park for public events, including Jazz on the Monon, which has taken place on Lazzara's lot for years. It will look something like Georgia Street in Downtown Indianapolis, Meyer said, with a public space and a roadway that can be shut down for events. The city will look for a temporary spot for Jazz on the Monon this summer as construction is ongoing, Meyer said.
If TIF is approved, work would begin this winter and the development would begin to open in 2018. Lazzara already has begun demolishing several vacant homes on the block.
Call IndyStar reporter Chris Sikich at (317) 444-6036. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisSikich and at facebook/chris.sikich.
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