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February 9, 2009
Forest City in the News
The NY Times, Roll of the Dice on Las Vegas’s Shabby Downtown
A "complicated land swap and a lease-back arrangement" with Forest City Enterprises is at the heart of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman's downtown renewal plan.
The project would include a new city hall (never mind that the existing one, built in 1973, has an addition only six years old), a casino resort (the first in downtown in some three decades) and office, residential and commercial space (because, the developers of this project assert, the eventual economic recovery will create demand for it).
The plan includes a complicated land swap and a lease-back arrangement — “a college football parlay card, in which everything has to fall into place,” The Las Vegas Review-Journal said in an editorial. For taxpayers, the bottom line could mean borrowing $150 million to $267 million, with tax revenue from new development paying it back over time.
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Under the plan, the development group LiveWork Las Vegas/Forest City would build the new city hall at First Street and Clark Avenue, lease it back to the city and swap the land underneath for a 6.4-acre property at Union Park, a large mixed-use complex being developed with another partner that will include a concert hall, space for medical research and other components. There, the development group would build a 47-story, 1,000-room high-end casino hotel.The land under the existing city hall could be paired with an adjacent lot for 20 acres of developable space, perhaps for an arena to lure a professional sports team, which the mayor has long sought.
NoLandGrab: We're not sure if the reporter or editor discussed adding a disclosure to the article, but it should be noted that Forest City Enterprises's local subsidary co-owns the Times Tower with the NY Times Company.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Med mart-convention site decision up to elected officials, says Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson
After Forest City Enterprises's reversal of fortune with the Medical Mart project in Cleveland and an unofficial assurance by the developer towards another site candidate, the Mayor stepped up to the podium to calm things down:
Mayor Frank Jackson said Friday that the three Cuyahoga County commissioners - and not private developer MMPI - will pick the site for a new convention center and medical mart if the preferred site on the mall does not work.
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"We don't know what Mr. Falanga of MMPI said to Mr. Wolstein about his site," Jackson said in a news release. "But no private developer - whether it's MMPI, Forest City or Mr. Wolstein - will determine which site is chosen."
Posted by lumi at February 9, 2009 4:57 AM