By Tara DeRock Mahoney
Senior Staff Writer

The Bank of Madison was the low bidder in a request from the city Downtown Development Authority for a $1.5 million loan to complete the town park.
Some of that money will be used to immediately retire a Region’s Bank loan with a balance of $140,000, money that was used several years ago to purchase the former Bi-Rite Grocery on the site of what is now developing as the park.
The new loan will have an interest rate of 3.58 percent, with four years of interest only and no penalty for paying down the loan or paying the loan off early.
“The Bank of Madison is the low bidder—all the terms met the RFP,” said DDA chairman Kevin Meeler at a DDA meeting earlier this week. The group agreed unanimously to accept the terms of the loan and pass the matter on to a finance committee; DDA member Clifton Hanes, who works for the Bank of Madison, abstained from voting.
An intergovernmental agreement with the City of Madison will back the new loan, although DDA is legally a separate, autonomous entity from the city council.
In other park news, some pavement is now complete and already being utilized as parking around the future meeting space and events venue.
“I didn’t know asphalt could look so pretty,” said Hanes. The second contractor on the site, working on other paving and drainage projects, has already begun work; work on the cottage is expected to begin soon, and bid documents for work on the park pavilion are expected to go out to local contractors by the end of July.
“We’ve got work going on through the fall,” said City Manager David Nunn.