The city of Chillicothe has a $70,000 check in hand from a developer who wants to convert the 13 acres of old prison property on the north side of Third Street into a 100-unit carriage home development.
Chillicothe City Council members are now reviewing the proposal — which they received during their regular meeting Monday night — and plan to make a decision at a special meeting at 6 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) at City Hall. A decision could have been made last night; however, several council members said they wanted time to review the proposal and give the public an opportunity to provide feedback.
David Buttman and Randy Constant, representing Mystic Land Development, LLC, Chillicothe, told the Council and a roomful of community members Monday night that they want to buy the land to build medium-income level homes which would be marketed in the range of $99,000 and $120,000 each.
MLD proposed buying the land for $273,000 and, as an act of good faith, gave the city a $70,000 check to be used as security at closing.
The development would be a community of patio homes, also known as carriage homes.
“Historically, these have proven to be a great way to provide larger high-quality housing for less money, keeping the market prices in the appropriate range for medium income buyers,” Buttman said.
The proposal calls for building 100 housing units on the property, with at least 50 to be completed within five years. The developer projected that the units generally would be duplexes and tri-plexes, but said the market would determine what is built so that single-family dwellings as well as four-family homes could also be considered.
The MLD proposal was the only one submitted after the city advertised for proposals in the newspaper earlier this month. The deadline to submit proposals was 2 p.m. Monday. City Administrator Dean Brookshier said that although there had been several inquiries, MLD was the only one submitting a proposal.
The $70,000 check represents more than 25 percent of the proposed purchase price.
The proposal up for council approval calls for the purchase price of $273,000. The funds would be distributed as follows: $100 will be transferred at closing; $70,000 to be deposited in escrow to be applied to the purchase price balance at the completion of the contract; at buyers option, either the balance of the funds will be due upon the fifth anniversary of the closing date or all undeveloped lots will be conveyed back to the seller; a credit of $5,500 will be given to MLD toward the purchase price for each housing unit that is constructed or under construction during the five-year period of the contract. If that figure meets or exceeds the purchase price prior to the fifth anniversary of closing, the contract will be considered fully executed and closed...........
Chillicothe, Mo. —
