Jill Schramm/MDN The Big “M” building stands amid a snow flurry in downtown Minot Friday. Plans to rehabilitate the building still are planned despite a parent company’s bankruptcy.

Construction on The Tracks in southwest Minot has been reactivated, while a group overseeing the Big “M” building rehabilitation are developing a plan to advance that project, according to city information provided at a meeting of the city’s Economic Development Plan Review Committee Friday.

Both The Tracks and Big “M” building were projects of EPIC Companies, which faces bankruptcy proceedings.

Brian Billingsley, the city’s Community and Economic Development director, said the Maverick building under construction at The Tracks is nearing completion.

“It was shut down for a while, but they did get a building permit to start work there again,” he said.

The Tracks, a proposed mixed use development in southwest Minot near the hospital, is to consist of seven mid-rise buildings, a plaza and parking ramp on 15 acres of property, according to an article published in The Minot Daily News on Jan. 4, 2023. Ground was broken in the fall of 2022.

EPIC Companies received five-year, $2.88 million Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for the first phase of The Tracks. Existing property taxes continue to be collected for the taxing entities, but additional taxes collected on the property improvements are to go toward the project development for five years. Specifically, the collected taxes would go to public amenities associated with the plaza, an estimated $3.2 million investment, the Jan. 4, 2023, article stated.

David Lakefield, city finance director, said he spoke with the attorney representing the board of governors for the Big “M” building.

“They are working on a program – a lot of moving pieces with that,” he said. “I know that they are putting together a proposal for keeping that project moving.”

EPIC Companies’ TIF provides that 90% of the additional taxes generated by improving the building will go to pay off city bonds of about $2.55 million. The purpose of the bonds is largely to cover the cost to abate asbestos in the building.

Council member and committee chairman Mike Blessum noted the Big “M” building is eligible for multiple city economic development programs, including the Facade Improvement Program and Renaissance Zone.

“We’re giving it every possible shot we can and we’re still not getting it there,” he said. “Even though all the right pieces are in place – hopefully, we’ve done the right legal things with the ‘M’ building – we are on the hook for the bonds.”

Billingsley said the city sought to protect its TIF investment by setting a $14.7 million property assessment on the building.

“The property owners have to pay their property tax at that level for the next 20 years – the minimum at that level,” he said. “That ensures our investment to ensure that those bonds will be paid off.”

The city council and school board approved the TIF, but the Ward County Commission approved a different plan that gives up 100% of the tax to the project for only eight years.

Minot City Manager Harold Stewart said, to the city’s knowledge, the asbestos has been removed in accordance with the TIF agreement.

“So what we paid for is complete. As long as they pay their property taxes in accordance with the minimum assessment agreement, they’re complying and taxpayers in Minot are protected by the way we designed this agreement. So, ultimately, it’s the developer who’s suffering the pain if they haven’t done the improvements to capitalize and make sure that it’s a building worth $14.7 million,” Stewart said.

Billingsley added the Big “M” building has been approved for Facade Improvement dollars, but unless facade improvements are made before the end of the year, the funds become available for reallocation elsewhere.

The risk remains that property taxes become delinquent on the Big “M” building. However, Lakefield said lending institutions are involved in the project and have an interest in protecting it from foreclosure by the county.

Had no incentives been offered to encourage EPIC’s development of the property, which was in tax arrears at the time, the building could have ended up in the hands of the county, with the public responsible for the cost of demolishing or abating the nuisance, he said.

“We’re in a heck of a lot better position with that building than we were two-three years ago, because now we have a building that’s had the asbestos remediated,” city council and committee member Paul Pitner said. “We have an assessment value of $14.7 million that’s coming into the city, taxable revenue that’s taking the burden off of other taxpayers. Is it the perfect outcome? No. But is it dead in the water? Hopefully, not forever.”