Tiffin Riverfront Development agreement deemed ‘null and void’ by city officials

Tiffin, Ohio —A real estate purchase agreement between the City of Tiffin and the developer of a proposed $43 million mixed-use riverfront development project has been deemed “null and void” by city officials after the developer failed to submit required financing documentation by the agreed upon deadline.

Tiffin Riverfront Development LLC was required to submit a written loan commitment with credit approval for the hotel portion of the project by Nov. 1, 2021.

Eduardo Hernando, a Florida-based developer and entrepreneur who is in charge of Tiffin Riverfront Development, submitted a letter from a financing firm to council earlier this month.

Mayor Aaron Montz said during Monday evening’s Tiffin City Council meeting that the letter provided by Hernando is “not a written loan commitment with credit approval as required,” because the letter is “non-binding and expressly subject to credit approval.”

“In addition, the letter fails to provide the remaining financing for the project that you represented in your October 7, 2021 email to city officials,” Montz wrote in a letter to Hernando, which he shared during Monday’s council meeting. “Because you failed to provide the required letter to the city by November 1, 2021, I am requesting that Tiffin City Council approve an ordinance confirming the administration’s finding that the letter was non-compliant, and that pursuant to the terms of the second addendum, the real estate purchase agreement is null and void.”

The proposed project at 15 East Market Street includes a luxury residential building with four to five floors containing over 100 condo units and over 60 rental apartments, a 100-room hotel with a 25,000 square foot convention center along with 5,000 square feet of meeting and event space for business meetings and conferences, weddings and events.

The project would require the city to sell two municipal parking lots: Parking Lot 4, located between East Market Street and East Perry Street; and Parking Lot 6, located between East Market Street and Madison Street.

Law Director Brent Howard said it his legal opinion that the “written loan commitment” provided to council by Tiffin Riverfront Development LLC does not meet the requirements of the agreement between the city and the development group, therefore making the agreement “null and void.”

“It doesn’t take any action on the part of the city or anyone else, so it is my opinion, null and void,” Howard said. “There is no current agreement for the sale of the property to Tiffin Riverfront Development LLC.”

Tiffin City Council will now consider an ordinance to confirm the administration’s findings.