By Rebekah Morris for AZBEX
Last month, The Richman Group withdrew its proposed housing development from a Guadalupe Town Council agenda after losing what had previously been enthusiastic and unanimous support.
Town Commons was originally proposed as 230 units of affordable housing, with 60 of those units set aside for senior living. There was a commercial component on the SEC of Guadalupe Road and South Avenida del Yaqui. As originally reported in AZBEX, this would have been the first new development project to come to the Town in more than seven years (as far back as the DATABEX project database has records). (AZBEX; Sept. 19, 2023)
The public request for proposals process was Guadalupe’s third attempt to develop the site. The first two garnered no responses. The Richman Group was one of three proposals that were originally due in December 2022. In March 2023, Town Council unanimously agreed to negotiate a development agreement for the Town Commons project.
The Richman Group has developed affordable housing communities in California, Texas, New York and New Jersey and opened an Arizona office in May of 2022. Town Commons was supposed to be the firm’s first project in the state.
Changes Requested, Changes Made
In formally withdrawing the requests for rezoning and approval of a development agreement during the February 22 meeting, zoning attorney Nick Wood of Snell & Wilmer took the Council to task for what was ultimately a failed project that originated with a Town-led public RFP process for development on City-owned land.
According to Wood’s comments at the Town meeting, The Richman Group responded to the Town’s concerns by repeatedly making changes to the project. He stated that the Town “kept moving the goal line.” The Town requested removal of the commercial portion from the southeast corner, which they did. The Town requested that the developer change design elements, which they did. The Town requested a reduction in unit count from 230 to 192, which they did. The Town even switched the deal structure from an outright land sale to a lease arrangement, which The Richman Group agreed to. The Town increased the parking for the project and the developer said, “Okay.”
“Council repeatedly said the community needs the project as recently as early February 2024. The Town would have realized $19M in lease revenue over the 99-year term of the agreement had the deal been successful,” Wood said. All told, The Richman Group invested approximately half a million dollars in design and attorney’s fees, according to Wood’s statement. Given the failed outcome, it is unlikely the market will ever respond to another development RFP from the Town for these sites.
NIMBY Resistance Killed Town Commons
Despite the Town’s initial support, community pushback gained enough momentum to change councilmembers’ minds.
The primary concern expressed was the size of the project. One resident summed it up by saying it was, “A great project but the wrong location,” which is a quote offered up verbatim from opponents of nearly every project with an affordable-targeted housing component anywhere in the state. Homeowners immediately to the east were concerned with the planned three-story height of the development.
Still facing entrenched resistance after the multiple revisions, The Richman Group decided to abandon the project and formally withdrew the proposal from the Feb. 22 meeting agenda after a Feb. 8 continuance failed to identify sufficient common ground to proceed.
According to Jeff Kulaga, town manager for the Town of Guadalupe, that was the third RFP process in about five years. The Richman Group’s proposal was the first project that had value and was able to move forward at all. The Town is stepping back from the project and reassessing. There is no plan to go back out for another RFP.
Without a development agreement and rezoning in place, the most central corner of the small Town of Guadalupe will realize no revitalization or improvements of the land, and the sites will remain vacant for the foreseeable future. The Town has an incredibly limited budget with a small population and virtually zero retail to provide sales tax revenue to the municipality. It also does not have the revenue to support a publicly funded project of any sort. Private investment was the only option for the sites to see new development and community revitalization.
