Potential Rosemont Sale

Julio Gonzalez Altamirano

Dear Colleagues,

I wanted to start a discussion on procedural choices we may want to make to ensure we can make a good decision about a potential Rosemont sale. Below are some of my initial suggestions; I would be interested in hearing your ideas, as well.

Schedule a special meeting dedicated only to discussion of the proposals we receive as a result of the RFP and decide whether to proceed with any of them. Since the RFP submission deadline is November 11th, perhaps a date between submission and before Thanksgiving would be appropriate so that we can act quickly.
For our October Board meeting, I would like to suggest we change our meeting agenda structure to facilitate a quality discussion in preparation of our November special meeting. Specifically, I'd like to reserve our initial discussion item for the potential Rosemont sale and invite some public testimony on best practices for retaining affordability given what the types of offers we will be contemplating. Let's get some additional housing experts in town to give us ideas on how to to this well. I am happy to work with interested colleagues to develop a list. We can also receive a staff update on interest in the RFP and potential early issues with the sale.
I would be interested in staff developing a "baseline" model of what kind of additional support (either from local government and/or philanthropy etc.) it would take for SHFC to refurbish Rosemont to the state that we can get vacancies down to generate a net surplus from rental that can be used for re-investment, as well as medium-term re-development options that could enhance the operating performance of the property. The baseline scenario would also have a timeline. This baseline scenario is needed to understand what our "opportunity cost" in terms of our mission of providing affordable housing is in the even we sell the property.

Julio Gonzalez Altamirano

Colleagues,

It would be useful to arrange a joint meeting with the Commissioners Court to discuss the Rosemont sale. We should schedule it after the RFP deadline to ensure we can present the viable paths forward in the conversation.

In terms of my previous proposal to invite expert testimony at our next meeting. in the event we do move forward with a joint session, I'd rather we encourage external expert testimony be invited to that conversation with the Court instead of our next meeting. It would be a more efficient use of time for all involved.