City officials to meet with downtown developer after default letter sent on North Washington Street project

ALBANY – A downtown development project has hit a bump in the road due to developers failing to meet conditions set for a loan approved by the city of Albany. 

The Look Again LLC project that includes 106, 110 and 114 N. Washington St. failed to meet two milestones that the company agreed to as a condition for a $2 million bridge loan extended by the Albany City Commission. Those milestones were part of a term sheet approved by the commission connected to the $2 million bridge loan.

The commission approved the loan in a 5-2 vote, with funding coming from the city’s job investment fund.

A letter notifying Look Again officials of a default on the terms of the agreement has been sent to the company, city officials said.

The $17 million project envisions 15 luxury apartments, a food court, space for Albany Technical College culinary arts students to work and an Amici restaurant in 45,000 square feet of space in the three buildings.

The term sheet set a Sept. 30 deadline for securing commitments for occupancy and funding of a contemplated lease from Albany Technical College and Dougherty County. That lease agreement depends on a proposed $3 million commitment from the county to fund the Albany Tech lease for 15 years.

The Dougherty County Commission has not approved the $3 million expenditure and has had little or no discussion on the topic since the City Commission approved terms of the loan. 

The term sheet that set the milestones was submitted a week after city commissioners approved the loan with Elvis Muldrow, Orlando Rambo, Christopher Pike and Lillian Sneed listed as guarantors.

Under the terms of the loan, interest is set at 3% over a term of 24 months, with a balloon payment set for April 2027, at which time all principal and interest is to be paid. 

In the event of a default, the interest rate can be increased to 9% if the conditions of the default are not cured within 30 days.

The city will work with Look Again to get the project back on track, Albany City Manager Terrell Jacobs said.

“It is my thought … I think they were a little aggressive in some of the milestones they set,” he said. “They set those milestones. We’re going to be meeting with them to get a couple of those a little more succinct … to be a little more amenable to them.”

The city manager said he still believes the project is a valuable one and that the city can work with the developers in order to make it work.

“I don’t feel that there’s any concern at this juncture,” he said.

In addition to the lack of the $3 million in funding from the county, confirming Albany Tech’s involvement also faces other hurdles. In order to participate, the technical college will require approval from state agencies, Albany Tech President Emmett Griswold said.

“We haven’t (received) anything yet from the developers,” Griswold said. “We haven’t got an MOU (memorandum of understanding) or any drawings for me to even ask for a final approval.”

Once an MOU is provided, the college can forward a request to the state.

“Any time I move a program off the school campus, I have to get approval from the accrediting board,” he said. “The accrediting board will take about six months to grant approval.”

The State Board of the Technical College System of Georgia also will have to approve the venture, the college president said.

“If we were to get it (MOU) today, it would probably be six months from now,” Griswold said. “It should be OK, but we have to get formal approval.”

The culinary facility would be an attraction downtown, the college president said, and would give Albany Tech a presence in the district.

“I think it will give the college some contact with downtown revitalization,” Griswold said. “We want to be part of that growth. I think it will be beneficial to the community as well as the college.”

Rambo said on Wednesday that he has no comment on the notice of default, which he received in a letter on Tuesday. He said he might release a statement or have his attorney or the architect working on the project contact The Herald to comment.

City staff took the right step in sending notification to enforce the terms of the contract, Albany City Commissioner Chad Warbington said, adding “Look Again’s proposal is great as part of the long-term revitalization effort for downtown, but officials need to prevent the situation from snowballing.”

“Milestones are in place to keep this from snowballing,” Warbington said. “Love the project, but it’s very complicated. (It) has a lot of moving parts, multiple entities, multiple governments, and we know governments don’t move very fast.

“The project has got a lot of upsides. You’ve got to balance concepts and upsides with reality.”

The next milestone scheduled for the project is to have a senior debt lender commitment by Oct. 31, followed by approvals for construction, including zoning, historic preservation and building permits due on Dec. 15. Milestones that fell prior to Sept. 30 were met, officials said.