1 state of new jersey 2 new jersey commerce & economic growth commission
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| 8 know, approximately?
9 MR. HEBRON: The total budget? Oh, 10 wow... 11 MR. HOPKINS: You're talking about 12 just salaries or the -- 13 MR. HEBRON: -- the operations? 14 MR. HOPKINS: -- improvement 15 project? 16 MS. KREIPKE: I'm just trying to put 17 this $295,000 request for supplemental Public 18 Works services in the overall -- 19 MR. HOPKINS: It's approximately 20 $2 million. 21 MS. KREIPKE: Without this 22 supplement? 23 MR. HOPKINS: Yes, without this. 24 That's correct. You're welcome. 25 MS. KREIPKE: Thank you. GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 88 1 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Any other 2 questions? 3 Hearing none, all in favor please 4 signify by saying "aye." 5 AUTHORITY MEMBERS: Aye. 6 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Any opposed? Any 7 abstentions? 8 Motion carries. Congratulations. 9 MR. HEBRON: Happy holidays to all 10 of you. 11 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: The next item is 12 Vineland's two requests for $2,349,766 for 13 Economic Development Loan to Bridor, Inc. and 14 Frank DiGiorgio is here with us. 15 Good morning. 16 MR. DiGIORGIO: Morning. 17 The two projects we have on the 18 agenda this morning are both for economic 19 development loans. The first loan is for a 20 project to Bridor, Incorporated, in the amount of 21 $2.339 million. And this will be a loan for an 22 artisan bread production line. The total project 23 cost is $7.8 million. We have a 10 percent 24 contribution from our borrower, primary lender 25 out of Canada, funding $6.80 million. And the GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 89 1 UEZ request for our forward is 2.339,766 million. 2 Bridor is a manufacturer marketer of 3 frozen gourmet artisan products, pastries, breads 4 for food service and retail markets in Canada and 5 the United States. They're located in our 6 industrial park. They have recently secured a 7 contract with Wal-Mart and working on a contract 8 with another fast-food company in the United 9 States which cannot be released right now. But 10 they currently employ 53 people in this plant. 11 And with this expansion, we assume or anticipate 12 that it will double. So we're looking for an 13 additional 50 to 100 jobs out of Bridor with this 14 next line. 15 They initially leased operations in 16 Vineland. They have purchased their facility 17 with previous assistance from the UEZ and are 18 doing well at this point. So... 19 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Thank you, Frank. 20 May I have a motion, please? 21 MR. HURD: So moved. 22 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Motion by 23 Mr. Hurd. 24 Second? 25 MS. KREIPKE: Second. GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 90 1 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Second by 2 Ms. Kreipke. 3 Any questions? 4 Mr. Hurd? 5 MR. HURD: With the expansion, new 6 employees coming in, is there any controlled idea 7 where those new employees would come from? Would 8 they come from the town or just anywhere because 9 they're a private entity? 10 MR. DiGIORGIO: I imagine they would 11 recruit from anywhere in the county. The city 12 obviously first, then the county. They would 13 probably work with our One Stop Center, our work 14 force folks in the county by providing them with 15 job profiles and descriptions, and they usually 16 help them with the purpose of hiring which has 17 been the case with many of our industrial 18 employers in the town. 19 MR. ABELAR: How much is the 20 interest rate? 21 MR. DiGIORGIO: The interest rate on 22 our Urban Enterprise Zone is 5 percent. This is 23 a 15-year loan for Bridor. 24 MR. ABELAR: Is the Assisted Funds, 25 are we the last resort for this enterprise? GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 91 1 MR. DiGIORGIO: Because the company 2 is located in an Urban Enterprise Zone, they're 3 eligible for applying to the UEZ or our UEZ for 4 Zone Assistance Funds or Economic Development 5 Loans. We typically like to see some 6 participation on their part in a primary bank, so 7 we put that in our spec and guidelines and they 8 are applying for one-third of the project through 9 our funds. 10 MR. ABELAR: Indeed. I saw that 11 they have a loan from the Bank of Canada. I 12 wonder if this beneficiary apply for loans to any 13 American Bank, local banks. 14 MR. DiGIORGIO: Well, they're 15 headquartered in Montreal. So they would 16 probably go -- they have two plants in Canada so 17 there are obvious relationships that have been 18 established with those banks and they'll utilize 19 those as well. The purpose for our funding is 20 obviously reduce their interest rate and reduce 21 their cost of operating or funding the 22 acquisition of the equipment line. 23 MR. ABELAR: My concern here is that 24 the Authority is becoming a banker in this case. 25 And even though the statute explicitly provides GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 92 1 for that, I am concerned that this is not the 2 spirit of the law to become a banker. And I know 3 the statute says that loans can be provided, but 4 I am concerned about that. 5 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Okay. And that is 6 duly noted. I will note that Bridor was ready to 7 go back to Canada. 8 And if I recall, Frank, through an 9 arrangement and a loan, a previous UEZ loan, you 10 were able to keep the company here in Vineland 11 and that was a big -- 12 MR. DiGIORGIO: It was a big deal, 13 yeah. 14 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Yeah, it was a big 15 deal. 16 So you are entitled to your opinion. 17 I think it's a great thing. 18 MS. PEARSON: I concur with that. 19 This is sort of the purpose of the UEZ. 20 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: And I'm sorry that 21 you don't feel that it's within the spirit of the 22 law, but I feel that it is. 23 MS. KREIPKE: Mr. Abelar, could you 24 expand a little bit on that since we've approved 25 lots of loans here at these meetings. What makes GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 93 1 this loan seem to you like becoming a bank as 2 opposed to other loans we've approved? 3 MR. ABELAR: Well, the percentage of 4 contributions the Authority is providing. I am 5 surprised that no local bank is involved, no 6 American bank is involved in this transaction. 7 And the mere fact of the amount of the loan and 8 the percentage rate seems to me is low. We don't 9 know anything more than it is briefly provided 10 here, what is this beneficiary about? I've been 11 in the Authority for three years or two years and 12 this is the first time I hear from this 13 particular beneficiary. 14 It would be good in the future if 15 the beneficiary is ready to leave town that we 16 here about it in loans of this amount. 17 MR. DiGIORGIO: Yeah, if I could 18 comment on that. I mean, one of -- and your 19 comment is understood. One of our major focuses 20 or our program is to preserve the existing 21 companies so they don't consider moving out of 22 Vineland. So one way to do that is to provide 23 them some advantageous financing that they 24 couldn't obtain anywhere else. 25 So I mean if a company was GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 94 1 considering -- you know, I have National Bank of 2 Canada's term sheet and obviously it is higher 3 than 5 percent. But if we didn't have this, they 4 may like Kathy said consider different locations 5 or somewhere else where some other state or local 6 municipality could offer an incentive that would 7 move them out of our town. So... 8 MS. PEARSON: Excuse me, I'm getting 9 increasingly uncomfortable when we have 10 philosophical ideas that come across from the 11 Board. The people who are presenting their 12 projects are presenting their project based on 13 what the rules are. And I get increasingly 14 uncomfortable when they have get involved in this 15 conceptual debates. That's something that we 16 should have. They're following the law. They're 17 doing what they're supposed to do. We accept 18 what they present. Now if we have issues with 19 it, then I think that's something we need to 20 discuss, not with the people here. 21 And I would like if we can do that, 22 if we have these debates, these discussions, if 23 we could alter whatever it is we need to alter 24 because we are going by law as well, then lets do 25 that at another time. We set that time. GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 95 1 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Thank you, 2 Mrs. Pearson. 3 Okay, I'm going to take a vote now, 4 okay -- 5 MR. ABELAR: All right. 6 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: -- and you vote 7 your conscious, okay. 8 All in favor please signify by 9 saying "aye." 10 AUTHORITY MEMBERS: Aye. 11 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Any opposed? 12 MR. ABELAR: Opposed. 13 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Opposed by 14 Mr. Abelar. 15 Any abstentions? 16 Motion carried. 17 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Next item for 18 Vineland is also for 1,010,000 for Economic 19 Development Loan to Lucca Realty. 20 Frank? 21 MR. DiGIORGIO: Lucca Realty. 22 Actually, Lucca Realty is a real estate holding 23 company, which Lucca Cold Storage and Freezer 24 operates across the street from Bridor. They 25 plan an addition of 50,000 square feet. Again, GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 96 1 we are being applied to some Zone Assistance 2 Funds for this project, for their expansion. The 3 project cost is over $3.7 million. Your standard 4 10 percent contribution from our borrower and our 5 financing piece is 1 million, and they have 6 finances through a primary bank in the United 7 States, First Pioneer Farm Credit and local to 8 Vineland. 9 The company is a -- in addition to 10 freezer and cold storage space, it deals mostly 11 with importers of fruits and vegetables and some 12 types of meat and cheese. It brings in those 13 products, re-packs them and then sends them off 14 to its destination. They have completed 15 construction of the 50,000 square foot addition 16 to their space. 17 They're requesting funds are -- the 18 benefits to our zone are -- obviously, we're 19 assisting an existing company with their 20 expansion. Some minor job creation, but -- it's 21 a long-term tenant on our industrial park and we 22 want to make sure they're happy and stay and 23 continue operation. 24 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Thank you, Frank. 25 May I have a motion, please? GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 97 1 MR. HURD: So moved. 2 MS. PEARSON: Second. 3 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Motion by 4 Mr. Hurd; second by Ms. Pearson. 5 Any questions, comments or concerns? 6 Mr. Abelar? 7 MR. ABELAR: This would be two jobs 8 at a low 5 percent which we have two jobs. It is 9 for installation of our freezer and cold storage. 10 I think it doesn't comport to the spirit of the 11 law. 12 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: So noted. 13 Any other questions or comments, 14 concerns from the Authority? 15 Ms. Kreipke? 16 MS. KREIPKE: Could you tell me what 17 the amount of the 2001 loan was? 18 MR. DiGIORGIO: It was $3 million. 19 It's balance is 2.86 right now, 2.8 million 20 outstanding. 21 MR. MOORE: Two point eight million 22 outstanding? 23 MR. DiGIORGIO: It's been on 24 repayment. 25 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Any other GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 98 1 comments? 2 Hearing none, all in favor please 3 signify by saying "aye." 4 AUTHORITY MEMBERS: Aye. 5 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Any opposed? 6 MR. ABELAR: I'm opposed. 7 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: One opposed by 8 Mr. Abelar. 9 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Any abstentions? 10 Motion carries. 11 Congratulations, Frank. 12 Can I ask, can we just take a 13 five-minute break? Just a five-minute break, 14 real quick. Thank you. 15 (Whereupon a break was taken. Time 16 is 11:37 a.m.) 17 (Back on the record. Time is 18 11:46 a.m.) 19 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Can I ask everyone 20 to please sit down so we can start. The 21 Governor's Office is going to make a presentation 22 after the Authority meeting, so I'd like to move 23 this along, if I could. 24 The next agenda item is Jersey 25 City's two Good Faith Waiver requests. The first GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 99 1 one for $102,007 for Small Business Development 2 Center Funding. 3 Roberta Farber. 4 MS. FARBER: Good morning. 5 The Small Business Development 6 Center has funds that are slowly disappearing and 7 this is the first year that they have requested 8 Second Generation Funds from the Jersey City 9 Urban Enterprise Zone. The funds will be used 10 for administration, for consulting services. 11 They have an office, a satellite office on Martin 12 Luther King Drive, which is in one of the more 13 distressed areas of the municipality. They also 14 have an office on the college campus. 15 They have done over $5 million in 16 new loans over the past year. They are looking 17 at job creation as part of their mission. They 18 are working with Rising Tide Capital which is a 19 brand new entrepreneurship academy in Jersey 20 City, which is also located on Martin Luther King 21 Drive. That's Second Generation Funds. Also, as 22 you all know are funds that are donated to the 23 municipality when company cannot meet their 24 25 -- 25 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Not Second GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 100
1 Generation, Good Faith Waiver. 2 MS. FARBER: Good Faith Waiver 3 Funds. I'm not doing well today, what can I tell 4 you. 5 -- are donated by this company that 6 cannot meet their requirement on hiring. And 7 these funds are to be used for job creation which 8 the Small Business Development Center does do as 9 part of their mission. 10 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: The money for this 11 was donated through Jersey City businesses. 12 May I have a motion? 13 MS. PEARSON: So moved. 14 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Second? 15 MR. HURD: Second. 16 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: By Mr. Hurd. 17 Any questions, comments or concerns 18 from the Authority members? 19 Hearing none, all in favor please 20 signify by saying "aye." 21 AUTHORITY MEMBERS: Aye. 22 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Any opposed? Any 23 abstentions? 24 Motion carried. 25 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Next item is GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 101
1 50,000 for WomenRising - Community Partnerships 2 in Hotel Employment. And Roberta. 3 MS. FARBER: This program is run 4 through WomenRising. It is a joint project with 5 the Community College, as well as WomenRising, 6 the different hotels in Jersey City. We also 7 have three new hot -- well, we actually have an 8 expansion on the courtyards. Marriott in the 9 very near future. We have a Westin Hotel which 10 is in construction stage right now in the Newport 11 area. And we also will be having a Hilton built 12 which has been approved by the planning board. 13 So hospitality training for Jersey 14 City is extremely high. They have partnerships 15 with all the hotels in Jersey City as well as at 16 the airport in Newark to be able to place the 17 persons that are trained by the program. We are 18 also exploring with the Community College the 19 idea of creating a hospitality and customer 20 service institute tourism with the Community 21 College in the very near future. 22 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Thank you, 23 Roberta. 24 May I have motion, please? 25 MS. PEARSON: So moved. GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 102
1 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Second? 2 MR. HURD: Second. 3 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: By Mr. Hurd. 4 Any questions, comments or concerns? 5 Yes? 6 MR. ABELAR: Do men have access to 7 this program? 8 MS. FARBER: I'm sorry? 9 MR. ABELAR: Do men? 10 MS. FARBER: Yes. That was -- there 11 had been a time it was just women. But I told 12 them with the UEZ funds they did make the change, 13 and it is women and men that will be doing it. 14 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Any other 15 questions, comments? 16 Hearing none, all in favor please 17 signify by -- 18 Mr. Moore? 19 MR. MOORE: Yes, question. 20 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Mr. Moore. 21 MR. MOORE: How did this program 22 differ from some of the other programs that are 23 provided through the Department of Labor, job 24 training programs for like hospitality training 25 which is part of our jobs in demand. So -- GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 103
1 MS. FARBER: Employment and 2 training -- actually, if you look at the budget 3 that's there, they do get phones from the 4 employment, Jersey City Employment and Training, 5 which is part of the Department of Labor Program. 6 They are a partner with this program. And a lot 7 of the students that are gotten for that program 8 come through the One Stop Shop, they come through 9 Work Force Investment Board, and they come 10 through Employment and Training. It is a full 11 collaborative effort. 12 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Any other 13 comments, questions or concerns? 14 Hearing none, all in favor please 15 signify by saying "aye." 16 AUTHORITY MEMBERS: Aye. 17 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Any opposed? Any 18 abstentions? 19 Thank you, Roberta. 20 Next is Lakewood's Second Generation 21 Fund request for $16,661 for Business Center 22 Roadway Restriping Project, and Mr. Corby is 23 here. 24 MR. CORBY: Thank you, again, Madam 25 Director. And if I might after my presentation GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 104
1 be able to reserve remarks under Item No. 23 on 2 the agenda. 3 Earlier this year we came before the 4 Authority for a road re-paving project. It was 5 Project 0707, I believe. And there were a number 6 of roads that were being paved within the 7 Lakewood Industrial Park. This is an 1800 acre 8 area. Many of the businesses are displayed there 9 as UEZ businesses. The money that we're asking 10 for now is -- was not made a part of that 11 original project proposal. 12 I might take note that this was 13 under the bid threshold. This is also, the money 14 that we're asking for, the 16,000 is to do 15 striping immediately. Because many of the roads, 16 particularly the ones designated by the engineer 17 as being in need of repair, we have to do 18 something as far as safety striping and traffic 19 direction control. 20 I don't believe it's a substantial 21 amount. We do have $3.8 million in our Second 22 Generation Fund, and that's what the proposal is 23 before you. 24 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Thank you, 25 Mr. Corby. GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 105
1 Do we have a motion? 2 MR. ABELAR: So moved. 3 MS. PEARSON: Second? 4 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Motion by 5 Mr. Abelar; second by Ms. Pearson. 6 Any questions, comments or concerns 7 for Mr. Corby? 8 Hearing none, all in favor please 9 signify by saying "aye." 10 AUTHORITY MEMBERS: Aye. 11 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Any opposed? Any 12 abstentions? 13 Motion carried. 14 MR. CORBY: Thank you. 15 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: We'll see you 16 later, all right. 17 Next is Vineland's four Second 18 Generation Fund requests. First one -- we'll 19 each take separately -- $2 million for Facade 20 Improvement for Property Owners, Phase I. 21 Mr. DiGiorgio is here again. 22 And if you would please identify 23 yourself. 24 MS. FOROSISKY: Sandy Forosisky. 25 F as in Frank, o-r-o, s as in Sam, i, s as in GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 106
1 Sam, k-y; Director of Redevelopment of the City 2 of Vineland. 3 Okay. We're requesting $2 million 4 for a facade program for our downtown. Our 5 downtown has been a point of contention in the 6 city for many years. Like any other downtown 7 when the mall opened in the 1970s our downtown 8 has been on a continual downward spiral. There 9 was a lack of investment in the downtown. So in 10 2004 it was designated a redevelopment area. We 11 adopted a redevelopment plan. 12 In 2005, our downtown was designated 13 a Main Street in New Jersey. And in carrying out 14 the revitalization of downtown, it became 15 apparent that there was a significant lack of 16 investment downtown. And that a normal facade 17 program would not make the drastic difference 18 that we're looking for. So we embarked upon a 19 huge facade improvement program where we've 20 offered the landowners, the property owners up to 21 $200,000 depending on the number of sides of the 22 building exposed and the square footage exposed 23 for a facade improvement. And this would be a 24 forgivable loan over 15 years. A lien would be 25 placed on the property. And if they did not sell GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 107
1 their property for 15 years the loan would be 2 forgiven. 3 First five years there's no 4 forgiveness. Your six through fifteen there's 5 10 percent per year. In addition, if it's found 6 that they need to make interior improvements, you 7 know, the roof inside structural work, we would 8 be offering a 2.5 percent interest loan to cover 9 those. We believe that this significant 10 improvement will attract new businesses to the 11 downtown and help in our revitalization efforts. 12 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Thank you, Sandy. 13 May I have a motion, please? 14 MR. HURD: So moved. 15 CHAIRWOMAN KUBE: Motion by 16 Mr. Hurd. 17 Second? 18 MS. PEARSON: Second. 19 Second by Ms. Pearson. 20 Any questions, comments or concerns? 21 Hearing none, all in favor -- 22 MR. MOORE: Stated in here indicates 23 that the money will be awarded with regard to age 24 of the firm or age of the individual client? 25 MS. FOROSISKY: Excuse -- the age -- GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 108
1 MR. MOORE: Page 1 of the Operation 2 Face Lift. 3 MS. FOROSISKY: Oh, on the Directory: dca -> affiliates dca -> January 2010 Directorates, Organizations and Acronyms dca -> Dillon Carroll dca -> How does the process work? dca -> Affirmative fair housing marketing plan dca -> Dear Friends of Heritage Tourism in the State of New Jersey affiliates -> Affirmative fair housing marketing plan dca -> Division of fire safety new jersey fire safety commission regular meeting affiliates -> School Districts and Shared Services Reducing Costs and Improving Quality Download 0.83 Mb. Share with your friends:
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