"From: Action Greensboro
Date: May 10, 2013, 3:04:23 PM EDT
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: Good Repair Provision Coming Soon
Reply-To: info@actiongreensboro.org
Our friends at the City of Greensboro are notifying downtown property owners this week about enforcement of the good repair provision in the city's Land Development Ordinance, which will begin June 1. As downtown boosters, Action Greensboro was interested and thought you might be too. (Read the ordinance at http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/index.aspx?page=3063). It basically applies to windows and exterior doors and requires repairing broken, peeling or boarded up windows and doors.
To help downtown property owners come into compliance with the good repair provision the City will offer grants of up to 20% of the cost of these repairs-up to a maximum of $20,000. (Property owners will have to match at least 20% of the cost of repairs, and they can apply for loans from Carolina Bank.)
For more information contact John Shoffner in the City's Economic Development office at 336-373-2293 or jshoffner@greensboro-nc.gov
If you do not wish to receive email from Action Greensboro, please use the SafeUnsubscribe feature at the bottom of this message.
Judy Morton
Office & Communication Manager
Action Greensboro
317 South Elm Street
Greensboro, NC 27401
Direct: 336-387-8351
Office: 336-379-0821
Fax: 336-379-9719
www.actiongreensboro.org"
Of course, what the kind folks at Action Greensboro failed to mention was the fact that their own 2010 Action Greensboro funded, Moser, Mayer, Pheonix Associates, Greensboro Downtown Economic Development Strategy stated:
"Despite demand retail growth has been slow Despite the fact that downtown is attracting significant spending from visitors and a growing residential base, businesses have trouble staying open. Assuming an industry standard of 10% rent‐to‐sales ratio for successful retail, a business would need to generate $420,000 in annual sales in a typical downtown space of 3,000 SF with $14/SF rent. Local market data suggests that retailers in downtown Greensboro are achieving a lower sales volume, and spending closer to 25% of sales on rent. High start‐up costs compound already tight operating margins and impede the success of many storefront retail businesses. Downtown’s retail is currently approximately 15% vacant along Elm St, and anecdotal evidence suggests that many businesses do not survive the first year of operation.
Poor building conditions are the greatest economic barrier to the success of new retail. Many buildings in Greensboro were constructed in the early/mid‐1900s and are in need of major renovations. The cost of rehabilitating ground floor spaces and creating a “vanilla box” for retail use will range from $40‐$80 per square foot depending on the building’s condition and original design. This either drives rents higher or creates an extra upfront burden for the tenant. Many buildings have likely remained vacant because owners are unwilling to undertake the upgrade cost on a speculative basis."
And this one:
“Retail rents cannot fully support the cost of rehabilitating blighted buildings… Absent financial intervention, storefronts will remain vacant or will attract tenants of marginal quality and with a high probability of failure.”
You see, even if you borrow the money to fix up your old building you might not be able to pay back the loans. As I wrote months before, the "Good Repair Ordinance" is designed by Mayor Perkins, Councilwoman Roy Carroll, Dawn Cheney and Nancy Hoffman, Downtown Greensboro Inc and Action Greensboro to be a land grab-- the Great Greensboro Land Grab.
And don't forget to read the part about the bars on your windows. Are you still falling for this BS?
And is it any coincidence that Mr Bob Braswell sits on the boards of directors of Action Greensboro (The Greensboro Partnership and Action Greensboro merged in 2005) Carolina Bank and was seated on the board of directors at DGI at the time the "Good Repair Ordinance" was written and passed into law by the Greensboro City Council.
It just happens to be Bob Braswell's Carolina Bank who is offering these great loans under duress from the City of Greensboro? Wow, talk about banksters and crony capitalism! Talk about corruption! If I owned downtown property I'd be hanging ropes from my buildings and practicing my hangman's knots.
And just so the rest of Greensboro knows: while the current "Good Repair Ordinance" applies only to Greensboro's central business district, there are secret plans in the works to extent the land grab throughout the entire City of Greensboro. Some who read the quotes above will be fooled into thinking the "Good Repair Ordinance" is the City's way of saving you from those problems. Like they say, a sucker is born every minute and Greensboro's elite are counting on it. That's how they became Greensboro's elite.
