Thank you for asking.
Like I tell other Real Estate investors. If you don't need the money don't sell. It is only going to go up in value.
And if you did sell what would you do with the money?

I don't think it is unfair to point out that our City Council has had a really bad reputation for decades when making free market decisions.

So once again thanks for asking.

My first question is what would the city do with the income from the sale?

Would it be possible to have an independent group of local professionals structure and negotiate the deal?
Taking the burden off of unqualified city staff.

I think that the west gate center could become the new north gate.

hopeandrealchange said:

---

Thank you for asking.
Like I tell other Real Estate investors. If you don't need the money don't sell. It is only going to go up in value.
And if you did sell what would you do with the money?

I don't think it is unfair to point out that our City Council has had a really bad reputation for decades when making free market decisions.

So once again thanks for asking.

My first question is what would the city do with the income from the sale?

Would it be possible to have an independent group of local professionals structure and negotiate the deal?
Taking the burden off of unqualified city staff.

---

The sale of the parking lot would only happen with the intent to develop something there. It would not be a sale with no strings attached, I don't think. Right now, a student tower developer is the lead bidder.

Income would be applied toward capital funds.

Respectfully,

Bob Y

hopeandrealchange said:

---

Who decides what those strings are and how much do they hurt the sales price?

---

I asked we do a small area plan for Northgate with citizen and stakeholder engagement. That will now happen so the answer to the question "who" is you. Or any citizen that decides to participate.

Staff picked some of the strings. A police substation, waste management, a plaza, etc. Yes these things hurt the sales price, but despite this the highest offer was over $13 million.

It's largely a pure student housing play. I as one member of council disagree with that. I'd like to use this opportunity to create an entertainment district that captures the spirit and history of Northgate, but makes it better.

I support your ideas.
If sold and the funds go into the general fund two years later they will have been pissed away.

I think you should sell the property do all the development you want behind current Northgate with your police station and parking. But as a tradeoff lower University Drive below grade and create a plaza in front of Northgate to replace what you have currently behind it.

woodometer said:

---

I think you should sell the property do all the development you want behind current Northgate with your police station and parking. But as a tradeoff lower University Drive below grade and create a plaza in front of Northgate to replace what you have currently behind it.

---

Very very expensive when Elon's The Boring Company can get 2-3 pedestrian crossings under University Drive for a fraction of the cost.

Honestly, as someone who moved here 25 years ago for college and never left I want to see NG exactly the same in 2040 as it is now or even back what it was 20 years ago. It is an entertainment and bar district for students and alumni. I am tired of seeing all the great local places close and get replaced by another high rise student dorm or a Walmart. I am raising kids here and plan to live here another 20 years and I love being able to visit the Chicken and see CS as it was when I was a student. I'm fine with more parking, more lighting, more bathrooms and a safer walkable bar area but please stop letting big developers push out anything that isn't a mixed use high end retail/dorm behemoth.

In all seriousness, that needs to be entertainment.

Bob, thanks for asking us citizens.

I personally don't like the city selling any land of any significant size. The mixture of green areas and parks is one thing that makes a city a great place to live. I would leave the parking lot as it is with the long term future of putting a develop gathering area of benches, tables, gazebos, a couple of art pieces, and maybe a small water fountain and small stage for outdoor concerts by local budding singers and groups. It could really be developed into a destination itself.

Between the parking garage and the Methodist lot, there is more than enough parking within a couple of blocks of the restaurants and bars...and we don't really need more highrises.

Plus, the mixed use/retail-on-the-ground-floor idea has yet to be a proven success unless you are CVS across the street from campus with no other grocery or pharmacy options nearby.

maroon barchetta said:

---

Plus, the mixed use/retail-on-the-ground-floor idea has yet to be a proven success unless you are CVS across the street from campus with no other grocery or pharmacy options nearby.

---

You don't think Northgate is different? With all the folks on foot through there?

I want to know why the City of College Station is dead set on killing of North Gate? There is vey little left of College Station from 50 years back and the council wants it gone because of rowdy students.

cypress-ag said:

---

I want to know why the City of College Station is dead set on killing of North Gate? There is vey little left of College Station from 50 years back and the council wants it gone because of rowdy students.

---

I do not. Cities have entertainment districts. It's part of being a city. You don't kill an old entertainment district because of public safety challenges. You address the challenges. You make it better. You create a game day experience and a visitor experience for students, families and returning alumni. You capitalize on something other cities don't have and springboard it into something incredible and special. College towns all over the country are spending billions to do it. We don't have to.

I'm an Aggie. My son and daughter are too. So are their spouses. We don't want Northgate to get developed away. Help me make this better

Respectfully,

Yancy

Bob Yancy said:

---

maroon barchetta said:

---

Plus, the mixed use/retail-on-the-ground-floor idea has yet to be a proven success unless you are CVS across the street from campus with no other grocery or pharmacy options nearby.

---

You don't think Northgate is different? With all the folks on foot through there?

---

What has worked in the retail section of the development on Church where city hall/eccell used to be?

What, if anything, would be done to replace the lost parking spaces? The parking situation in Northgate is already inadequate on weekend nights. The only saving grace for the parking situation is that University Transportation doesn't really enforce the permit requirement in the 30 lots at night.

Losing parking spaces will only make the situation worse.

Also, where is the current Uber lane (between the surface lot and the bars) going to go? Rideshares are responsible for a huge reduction DWIs.

Buford T. Justice said:

---

I think that the west gate center could become the new north gate.

---

The westgate center is very narrow and surrounded by residential with very little parking. It doesn't have the appear of NG where not only it's directly across from campus but a short walk from Kyle Field before and after games.

NG to me is the only area that has the logistic advantages over other options.

Except for making the money to fund other capital projects, I see no benefit to the community of the sale of the parking area.

If it a'int broke, don't fix it.

BCS-Ag said:

---

Put it out to bid for highest and best use, requires them to replace the parking spots and integrate rideshare pickup/Drop off. Commit and segregate the profits into a fund dedicated to investing in the Northgate area as a way to get buy-in and support of the owners.

---

All of these have been done and/or being actively proposed now. Question: what if the market's answer to its highest and best use eliminates Northgate as a small entertainment district?

BCS-Ag said:

---

Bob Yancy said:

---

BCS-Ag said:

---

Put it out to bid for highest and best use, requires them to replace the parking spots and integrate rideshare pickup/Drop off. Commit and segregate the profits into a fund dedicated to investing in the Northgate area as a way to get buy-in and support of the owners.

---

All of these have been done and/or being actively proposed now. Question: what if the market's answer to its highest and best use eliminates Northgate as a small entertainment district?

---

If the city continues to keep the area designated as an entertainment district and reinvests the funds with that purpose in mind, this will not be a short-term problem. Long term, if the market is going to continue to push for density near campus, there is little that can be done. Maybe do some historical preservation of the strip facing University like Austin has done with 6th Street, but the character will change and there is no stopping it, just steering it....

---

I agree with that. Because of that, I think the more tracts involved in a simultaneous, coordinated P3 development, the closer we can come to achieving a planned outcome.

I'd like to see a hotel, some student housing, some condos, a large eater-tainment / live music establishment similar to Ole Red, additional supportive retail, shared parking capacity, a decent sized outdoor area, maybe a rooftop bar or two…in addition to city staff requirements previously identified such as a police substation.

A vibrant, colorful, walkable entertainment and residential district that captures the historical spirit of Northgate in a new development.

I think we only get one shot at this. If we are one and done with the city parking lot, ensuring anything from here could evaporate.

Now that's my opinion, but I don't own it. My whole problem with this is citizen feedback on what we do with that lot. Staff doesn't own it and neither does council. The citizens own it. It belongs to you.

If there ever was a "speak now or forever hold your peace" moment, this is it.

I don't think old Northgate can remain old Northgate- but I think it's very possible it could be made even better.

Bob Yancy said:

---

BCS-Ag said:

---

Put it out to bid for highest and best use, requires them to replace the parking spots and integrate rideshare pickup/Drop off. Commit and segregate the profits into a fund dedicated to investing in the Northgate area as a way to get buy-in and support of the owners.

---

All of these have been done and/or being actively proposed now. Question: what if the market's answer to its highest and best use eliminates Northgate as a small entertainment district?

---

Then ask the former students and visiting fans that use that area.

Here's a point that you and the council likely already know but won't dare mention here:

The majority of Northgate patrons are not locals. Not citizens that pay taxes here on properties they own.

Students make up the largest portion of visitors to Northgate. Most of those aren't tax-paying citizens that live here.

Former students and opposing team fans are the patrons you mentioned that might visit on game weekends. Again, mostly out-of-towners.

Anecdotal evidence: a classmate from the 80's came thru town to visit recently. He wanted to meet for lunch at The Chicken. He hasn't been here in decades.

More? My cousin that has lived in Germany for 20 years came back to visit. He wanted to hit up Dudley's and The Chicken.

Former co-worker who has lived abroad wants to go to Dud's, the Chicken, or O'Bannon's when he returns.

You aren't going to get that response from a Grub or Hopdoddy or Five Guys shoved into the bottom floor of The Rise Phase II. Or a Mo's or World of Beer - oops. Bad example. A bar and restaurant in a mixed use development at the busiest intersection near campus but didn't make it after all.

Put out a survey Aggie football season ticket holders. Also put out a survey to students. Include Blinn students as well. They go to Northgate.

Be sure not to fall into the trap of other surveys I have seen from other entities, where they only ask certain questions or word them in a way that gets the answers the survey creator would want to hear.

Be honest with the survey and ask the people that use that area the most. Hint: it's not everyone on this forum.

You can't escape the past performance of council. That performance is "let's blow money like a drunken congressman". If this turns into a project of "we built a homogenized obelisk of a structure and destroyed the quirky charm that people look for when they come to town, but hey, we got millions to fund our pet projects", you and the rest of council and the mayor will be made infamous on this forum for all time.

Asking 20 people on this forum isn't enough. Send out a survey to 79,000 students and however many living former students there are on the membership roster.

maroon barchetta said:

---

Plus, the mixed use/retail-on-the-ground-floor idea has yet to be a proven success unless you are CVS across the street from campus with no other grocery or pharmacy options nearby.

---

100% this. Mixed use is batting zero in BCS. See Lofts at WPC, Northpoint Crossing etc


Mixed use seems to work in high density urban areas, everywhere else not so much. Mixed use in BCS would love quirky local shops with character, however those types of businesses can't afford $6 per sq ft triple net leases. That dooms mixed use to national brands that want to maintain a presence in BCS and don't mind losing money to do it.

Bob Yancy said:

---

cypress-ag said:

---

I want to know why the City of College Station is dead set on killing of North Gate? There is vey little left of College Station from 50 years back and the council wants it gone because of rowdy students.

---

I do not. Cities have entertainment districts. It's part of being a city. You don't kill an old entertainment district because of public safety challenges. You address the challenges. You make it better. You create a game day experience and a visitor experience for students, families and returning alumni. You capitalize on something other cities don't have and springboard it into something incredible and special. College towns all over the country are spending billions to do it. We don't have to.

I'm an Aggie. My son and daughter are too. So are their spouses. We don't want Northgate to get developed away. Help me fight.

Respectfully,

Yancy

---

Bob, sorry this was not directed at you as I appreciate your work in the city and seeking input from its constituents. I wish more of the council and the mayor were as open and receptive as you.

I am lightly shocked at the love that government-directed central planning is getting here.

Just sell the land. Let the market figure out how to use scarce resources.

Free people, directed by the signals of a free market, are going to outperform central planners no matter how many people those planners survey.

Brian Alg said:

---

I am lightly shocked at the love that government-directed central planning is getting here.

Just sell the land. Let the market figure out how to use scarce resources.

Free people, directed by the signals of a free market, are going to outperform central planners no matter how many people those planners survey.

---

Then Northgate will be gone in 2040 and it will be all student towers as those offer the highest ROI.