September CIT Update

​September 10, 2019 CIT (Construction Interface Team) Meeting Update
 
We had a productive Construction Interface Team meeting today. The process seems to be in acceleration mode – lots happening!
 
Attending: Joren and Leslie from UD&P (developer), Katie (consultant), and, Jim, Abby, Molly, Mark, Doug (member representatives).
 

• Yost Gallagher (our general contractor) has submitted our plans to subs for competitive bids and will have prices based upon the re-design back to us by September 27th. This will be a significant step to finalizing pricing.
• Currently we are on schedule to begin construction by mid-November. The determining element will be hitting the membership and investment goals. We don’t have final requirements from the loan departments, but we will need in the neighborhood of 75% of the homes presold and 30% of the total cost raised. Once we get the final terms from the lenders and figure out our member investor numbers, we can begin to knock on doors so we can find those just waiting to invest in a community building project like ours.
• The order of construction was discussed.  Earthwork will occur first and may cause disruption to current renters in the Haystack building.  We discussed accommodations that may be made to keep ADA access for the third story apartment and the Yoga Shala studios. 
• The order of construction will be Buildings 1 and 2, common house, and building 3.
• Until we get an offer sheet from a bank, we will assume that we need the high end of 30% equity requirement. Twenty-four members have invested 20% and 5 members are averaging 10% down payments. To begin outreach to potential investors as it’s easier to start with a lower return and then tell them later it’s actually better than expected.  Joren will provide an investment document for review by interested members.  An invitation for investment will be made at the September LLC meeting. We should be having initial conversations with prospective investors now.
• Joren will review the Summary of Risk document as it’s out of date.
• The solar panels will be removed and stored in October.
• The garage and cement pad will be professionally removed as well.
• CIT will meet to identify small changes that can be made now that will be of long-range benefit. 
• The cost to install and maintain a community hot tub at this time appears to be prohibitive ($50,000 on the low end). Still, having a hot tub is a community decision and one with design implications. We will be present the information to the community at the September LLC meeting now that we have more information.
• On August 27 permits were submitted to the City Planning Department. Everything looked good with the exception of one hitch: in a reversal of a previous verbal assurance, the city is requiring us to treat all storm water on site. They are firm on this point. This will represent some additional cost. At this time, we are not sure what is entailed. UD&P (our developer) is working with the civil engineer to flush out options.