IS IT TRUE? September 20, 2011 Special McCurdy Supplement

IS IT TRUE? September 20, 2011 Special McCurdy Supplement

IS IT TRUE that it has been over a year since the last extension was granted to City Centre Properties LLC to get started on the refurbishment of the McCurdy Hotel the public will finally be given a presentation about the status of this project?…that it seems like this project has been a couple of months away from starting for the entire four years since the smile filled press conference to announce that the McCurdy would become luxury apartments?…that the USA is a different place now and that financing that was routine in 2007 is impossible to get now?…that downtown living which was a pretty hot market then is a pretty dead market now?…that the reason that the market is dead has as much or more to do with banks not lending and new rules from the government loan buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as it does with the properties themselves?…that like it or not it is time for the Evansville Redevelopment Commission to listen to what City Centre has to say and then bite the bullet of the realities of 2011 whatever that may be?

IS IT TRUE that the first question from the ERC to City Centre Properties should be “when are you going to pay your overdue taxes of $12,274.76”?…that if the habitual late payment of real estate taxes needs to be addressed in this meeting?…that without that on the table all of the rest of the explanations are meaningless?…that borrowing over $1 Million against a property and failing to pay $12k in taxes is no way to start a refurbishment?

IS IT TRUE that the realities of 2011 are that construction prices are higher than they were in 2007 but property values are lower?…that rents are also lower?…that demand is also lower for luxury of any kind?…that the McCurdy project which was financially thin when it was conceived may just not work with higher costs, lower demand, and of course the problems that come when a property sits empty for several years?…that then there is the 90 room hotel next door that only brought a bid of $325,000 at a failed auction and is currently offered for sale at $1.25 Million which only 10% of the 2007 estimate to refurbish the McCurdy?…that this morning is a time to hold ones rabbit foot and wish for the best but to prepare for the worst?

IS IT TRUE that the worst if it comes will reflect pretty darn bad on the deal making skills of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission?…that if the agreement with City Centre Properties is rescinded for failure to perform that a chain of events may be started that results in an auction of the property to satisfy the 1st Mortgage held by 5th 3rd Bank?…that if this happens there is an overwhelming probability that the City of Evansville will lose the entire investment of $1,403,000 and that some other party will own the McCurdy?…that if this unfolds in this manner that there should be a thorough audit of the process that allowed such a thing to happen?

IS IT TRUE that the other option that is available to the Evansville Redevelopment Commission is the do nothing option that will effectively kick this can down the road to the next Mayor of Evansville to deal with?…that we are betting that scenario two will be chosen as politicians and their appointed officials will put a negative consequence off as long as physically possible?…that businesses in most cases would never have invested and then subordinated the investment the way the ERC did the McCurdy investment of the people of Evansville’s money?…that if any banker did this with their employers cash investment that this would be a banker looking for a job in something other than banking?

IS IT TRUE that we hear that some interesting and newsworthy developments are taking place with the Old Post Office?…that we furthermore hear that the ERC and the City of Evansville may have another tempest in a teapot down there?…that we will be investigating this further very soon?

IS IT TRUE that it has now been 1,605 days since the announcement was made on May 14, 2007 that the McCurdy Hotel was to be refurbished into luxury apartments?…that it has now been 1,458 days since the Evansville Redevelopment Commission at the request of Mayor Weinzapfel approved the spending of $603,000 to purchase the parking lot?…that City Centre Properties and other developers of the McCurdy project are both listed as contributors to the Weinzapfel for Mayor committee for 2010?