04/22/19 – 1 A.M.

Findlay City Council met as a whole to discuss the proposed development at the former Argyle site downtown. Tim Youngpeter is the developer and talked about the amount of housing units that will come from the project.

The apartments will each have one parking spot allotted to them. He added that each unit will be around 950 square feet.

Youngpeter also talked about working to keep the the building housing the Wine Merchant.

Youngpeter added that they will also keep the facade of the historic Rieck’s Building. He said that they cannot keep the inside of the building because the floors will not match up and it creates building hazards.

Parking was a hot topic during the meeting as well. Youngpeter said that if the city sells him the parking lot behind the Wine Merchant building, he’ll establish more parking..

He added that the lot is valued at around $124,000 but they are willing to pay up to $150,000. There are also contingencies in the deal that will allow the city to get the lot back if the development falls through and there will be funds available to fix the lot.

Council members Holly Frische and Jim Niemeyer suggested putting the lot up for public auction. They said that this would set a precedent of clear and transparent dealings. Other members of council disagreed saying selling the property outright is not only transparent but also comes with additional housing and store space for downtown.