IS IT TRUE? December 27, 2011 Part 2

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McCurdy
This Was Meant to be a HOTEL!!!

IS IT TRUE? December 27, 2011

IS IT TRUE that tomorrow is the day that the Evansville Redevelopment Commission is poised to hear a proposal from a newly formed group from Bloomington, IN to assume the position of developer for the conversion of the abandoned McCurdy Hotel to 80 or 90 luxury apartments?…that a partner and leader of the new entity that is called McCurdy Development LLC is a St. Wendel native named Randal Lloyd?…that Mr. Lloyd once held a job in Bloomington that was the equivalent of what Evansville calls the Director of Metropolitan Development?…that would make him for local purposes the Tom Barnett of Bloomington?…that perhaps some of the skills perfected in such a position would be valuable in the refurbishment of a historic hotel and perhaps not?…that we will be curious to see just how applicable his experiences actually are and how his ability to attract capital to a project that is rather challenged from a pro-forma perspective as apartments continues to be?

IS IT TRUE that from a construction cost perspective McCurdy Development seems to have a little bit more of a realistic expectation of what the cost to refurbish a vintage hotel into 80 or so apartments will be?…that it has been reported that McCurdy Development is owning up to a new estimate of $13 Million for the job to be completed?…that this works out to $162,500 per apartment?…that we assume that the figure includes returning the lobby and other common areas to their former grandeur?…that a good rule of thumb is that the rent for such units will need to be in the range of 1% of the cost per month or $1,625 to make the project cash flow?…that renting out 80 apartments at a price of $1,625 per month in downtown Evansville is a very aggressive goal?

IS IT TRUE that it is of upmost interest to learn the whereabouts of the $800,000 that the Evansville Redevelopment Commission advanced to City Centre Development and the status of the taxes on the McCurdy that are still reported to be delinquent?…that most have assumed that the $800,000 never really changed hands and that City Centre paid that to the ERC for the McCurdy when the $1 lease for the $603,000 parking lot was signed?…that it is probably safe to assume that were it not for the approximately $1 Million first position loan held by 5th 3rd Bank on the McCurdy that assignment of the contract while unpalatable may not be terribly difficult?…that the real challenge facing the ERC in finding a future developer will be to get the 5th 3rd position satisfied and set aside?

IS IT TRUE that there is a loan on the books of the City of Evansville that was made to a predecessor to a predecessor of 5th 3rd Bank way back when the 5th 3rd Building was going up that may just hold the solution?…that if the City of Evansville and 5th 3rd Bank traded paper for these two loans that should have never been made in the first place and counted the slate clean that the way would be paved to start over down at the McCurdy with some interested and reputable developer?

IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer continues to hold the opinion that the highest and best use of the McCurdy hotel is as a VINTAGE HISTORIC HOTEL?

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4 COMMENTS

  2. I agree with the CCO that this building would hold much more grandeur as an upscale hotel. Thanks to Mike Martin and the Downtown loft program, there are already more than enough unaffordable housing downtown.

  3. NJ.com

    Prosecutors in former Secaucus mayor’s corruption trial: ‘a bribe is a bribe’

    Published: Tuesday, July 05, 2011, 3:31 PM Updated: Tuesday, July 05, 2011, 3:54 PM

    Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

    A bribe is a bribe, prosecutors in the corruption trial of former Secaucus mayor Dennis Elwell argued to jurors this afternoon.

    Elwell, 66, is charged with accepting a $10,000 cash bribe from federal informant Solomon Dwek in exchange for using his influence to assist with Dwek’s purported real-estate projects.

    Elwell has argued that he thought middleman Ronald Manzo would eventually convert the cash into checks that could be donated to Elwell’s 2009 mayoral campaign without breaking any campaign-finance laws.

    But even if the cash were converted into checks, it would remain a bribe, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen Nakly argued this afternoon in a rebuttal to the defense’s closing argument.

    “You can’t take an illegitimate bribe and make it legitimate,” Nakly said. “A bribe is a bribe no matter how you later package it.” (more)

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    “Elwell has argued that he thought middleman Ronald Manzo would eventually convert the cash into checks that could be donated to Elwell’s 2009 mayoral campaign without breaking any campaign-finance laws.”

    See CCO, Elwell thought that if he ran it through as a campaign donation, it would be legal. He was WRONG!

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