The EDA entered into a Purchase Agreement for over two acres in the Gateway West district to relocate Doggie Doos out of the redevelopment area on First Avenue to allow the River Bluff Development.  As part of that, the city council approved a forgiveable loan agreement for $73,003.96 to assist them with the purchase of new equipment for their new facility.

Since that time, they have been through a number of contractors and their loan was delayed for a number of reasons.  The current overall development is $2.2 million, about $600,000 above their original estimate. They have closed on the land and the project is well under construction and is in the process of getting weathered in.  They have faced some additional costs and delays because of the unusually wet weather along with the identification of bad soils on the former EDA site that had to be removed and new soil brought in. They recently were hit with an almost $5,000 bill to dry out the inside soils because the interior had become waterlogged.

Because of these delays, they have not been able to relocate.  The river bluff site developer has been working on a redesign to include adjoining properties and will begin construction in early 2020 depending on the winter weather.

As an incentive, the loan was previously modified to provide Doggie Doos with additional $12,000 to relocate and would now be extended until the end of January 2020.  The loan agreement was originally approved in 2018 and again in April 2019,  but the original loan had the requirement to purchase and install the funded equipment by December 2019.  They currently pay $4,000 a month and the property has been cash flow positive after paying for a new roof and several exterior repairs.  Basically, they would receive the last three months of rent back that they will have paid.

The changes have been noted through underlines in the restated loan agreement.