DL contracts with Chivers for land sale PIPPI MAYFIELD , Jack Chivers Realty Published Tuesday, August 02, 2005 Tuesday, the Detroit Lakes Development Authority entered into a listing contract with realtor Jack Chivers for the property south of Wal-Mart, which is being bid on by Menards and Home Depot. Community Development Director Larry Remmen said the contract was necessary since at a previous meeting it was unclear to some committee members if Chivers would get a commission on the property only if it was sold to Menards. Chivers worked with the Public Utilities Department for Menards to purchase the land for $750,000. After the land was opened for public bid, Home Depot is now offering $1.25 million, and Menards has raised its bid to $1.3 million. With the Menards sale, Chivers would have received $40,000 in commission. Since there wasn’t a listing contract with Chivers in the past, Remmen proposed, and the development authority unanimously passed, a contact that states Chivers will get 3.5 percent regardless of the business that purchases the land. After the initial bid deadline, the top two bidders were given roughly two more weeks to make offers. The DLDA will decide which bid it will accept at a special meeting Jan. 31 at 4:30. Remmen said that, “rather than playing Russian Roulette” with trying to decide how much the bid will actually be when the commission is paid on one of the bidders and not the other, taking it from both bids seemed fair. After the motion to accept the listing contact was passed, Alderman Bruce Imholte, who doesn’t sit on the DLDA, asked Chivers why he didn’t go out and find other buyers for the land when Menards first agreed upon the $750,000. Chivers said he had a buyer, Menards, and asked what the PUD wanted to sell the land for. When the city replied $750,000, Menards said the business wanted it and Chivers let the PUD know. He said media coverage brought Home Depot and other bidders to the land. Also at the DLDA meeting, John and Kathy Holland and Scott and Chris Mehlhaff asked for Tax Increment Financing for their future project of Lodge on the Lake. The $5 million project is a 55-unit lodge that will be located on Big Detroit Lake, roughly where Castaway Inn is currently. Castaway will be removed with the Highway 10 realignment. Kathy Holland said the building will be a higher-end facility, with all rooms facing the lake. She said it will benefit the Detroit Lakes area because resorts are being lost throughout the county. “It’s ideal for people who want to be pampered. Or left alone,” she said. “We think it will be good for the area.” The business owners had originally proposed a lodge with more units, but because of setbacks and the new highway, it is now down to the 55 units. Regardless of the number of units though, Holland said it will cost the same to run the lodge, so that’s why they are asking for the TIF. “We would have plenty of TIF capacity to do this,” Remmen said. The DLDA unanimously passed a motion to provide TIF for $62,000 of the project.