Opening new doors

Medford apartment complex development gets city financing support

The City of Medford Common Council voted to approve a $350,000 loan to facilitate the building of 40 new apartment units on Progressive Ave. in Medford.

When construction is complete, the project will include a mixture of two and three bedroom apartments.

The city will loan the Commonwealth Development Corporation $350,000 over 15 years with a balloon payment at the end of the loan term. The city will not collect interest on the loan.

Vice President of Development at Commonwealth Development Corporation Tyler Sheeran assured the See COUNCIL on page 5 council that the loan would allow the apartment complexes to go through as planned.

“I understand there’s concerns with our ability to carry forward with the project, or concerns about getting halfway through the project and experiencing additional increases and coming back to the well,” Sheeran said. “I’m here to alleviate all of those [concerns].”

Sheeran added that the only thing holding the project up at this point on the financing level was the $350,000 gap. He said once that was passed, the company could go forward with the next stages of the project. Sheeran detailed some of the financing attempts the company has made in the past and said the company had closed the financing gap from $1.5 million in December to $350,000.

One of the proposal’s previous criticizers said he was pleased with what the council had been told about the financial risk on the city’s part.

“Thank you because the information about this investment helps me feel a little bit more confident,” council member Mike Bub said.

Bub commented at the June 12 meeting that he was “very uncomfortable” with the financing proposal.

Sheeran said there is language included in the contract that says Commonwealth would be on the hook for paying the full amount of the loan back to the city in the event that the company were to go under or the project could not be completed as planned.

“I have no concerns about our ability to deliver the project,” Sheeran said. “It simply has been a matter of shoring up the financing on this project.”

Sheeran said Commonwealth would be willing to put language into the contract that would put all liability on the company if the project were to fall through to combat any concerns the council might have.

“The $350,000 we are requesting will be returned to the city,” Sheeran said.

The loan was passed unanimously. Sheeran said Commonwealth would close the financial portion of the project at the end of July with construction expecting to begin sometime this September.

In other business:

  Wastewater Utility Superintendent Alex Zenner said the department achieved a perfect 4.0 grade point average on the city’s annual maintenance report. He added that the wastewater treatment plant took 42,000 gallons of grease from local businesses.

Zenner said the plant accepted 6.5 million more gallons of waste from industrial facilities in 2022, saying the ability to take the grease and added volume has saved businesses time and money.

“We’ve increased our loading by about 16 percent,” Zenner said. “We still have been able to maintain the same treatment and we’ve done it for virtually the same cost as we have been doing it. It’s kind of been a win-win for everybody.”

Zenner noted that despite the increased volume at the plant, the facility is just over half the max capacity of what the facility could handle. Council members applauded the department’s ability to take more volume.

“It’s not just me. It’s a team effort,” Zenner said.

  The council officially approved a 50% reimbursement for Brooke Klingbeil’s pursuit of a bachelor’s degree.