Ventura, California: Negotiation of Development Agreement for Regional Mall Expansion. TNDG served as an ongoing consultant to the City relative to a development agreement for a proposed expansion of the Buenaventura Mall, a regional shopping center located along the Highway 101 corridor.

The applicant proposed to expand the mall's total leasable area from 625,000 square feet to approximately 1 million square feet, and sought substantial financial assistance from the City. TNDG's services included the following:

• Independent evaluation of the proponent's projected retail sales volumes, based on market area standards for the anchor tenants proposed;
• Evaluation of the incremental sales tax and property revenue that the expanded mall would generate, taking into account potential sales diversions from existing retail facilities elsewhere in the market area;
• Evaluation of the project's financial viability to determine the extent to which public participation was warranted;
• Extensive research of in-place development agreements for comparable projects in the Ventura County area to determine the current ?market? for municipal assistance; and
• Representation of the City in its development agreement negotiations with the developer.
  

Los Angeles, California: LACRA Developer Proposal Evaluation. A developer proposed a project within a Redevelopment Area of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency requesting significant Agency financial assistance to create a financially viable project structure. The Agency requested TNDG to review the request, and to recommend whether or not Agency participation was in fact required; if so, to what degree; and how best the Agency might structure a participation to best serve the needs of the project in a responsible and fiscally-sound manner.

TNDG created a financial evaluation model which incorporated the developer's assumptions and calculated various investment returns both with and without Agency participation. Assumptions as to cost and revenue projections were reviewed and refined as needed.

Ultimately, it was determined from the analysis that Agency participation was not justified and that a reasonable internal rate of return was generated by the project with conventional financing. The TNDG evaluation was ultimately confirmed by LACRA internal staff review from an appraisal perspective.

Honolulu, Hawaii: Aloha Tower Development Program Developer Selection Process. TNDG served as economic consultant to the Aloha Tower Development Commission in the evaluation of proposals from developers to redevelop the Aloha Tower area of downtown Honolulu.

The scale of proposed redevelopment activities approached three million square feet with an ultimate development value of a billion dollars. Following developer selection TNDG participated in the negotiating team to prepare a viable development agreement and master lease for the project.

Los Angeles County, California: First and Broadway Development Program Developer Selection Process. TNDG served as the economic advisors to a tri-agency committee comprised of representatives from the county of Los Angeles (lead agency), State of California and the City of Los Angeles in the evaluation of developer proposals for the First and Broadway site located on the Los Angeles Civic Center mall.

The initial tasks involved the preparation of financial projections for each of eight developer proposals to ensure a fair comparison of their respective returns to the agencies.

Following this review TNDG was involved in making a recommendation for a preferred developer and assisted in the negotiation of a lease with the selected candidate.