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April 2, 2009
Forest City in the News
Earth Times, Fitch Downgrades 10 Classes of Gramercy Real Estate CDO 2005-1; Assigns Outlooks
Since last review, four loans paid off or were sold out of the CDO, one of which was sold at a discount to par. Also, four loans, as well as three CMBS assets were purchased. The added loans, which were all purchased at par, consist of a whole loan (4.7%) to an affiliate of the collateral manager secured by a portfolio of 81 office properties; a second mortgage (2.5%) secured by the Atlantic Yards land assemblage in Brooklyn, New York; a whole loan (1%) secured by an office property in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and an A-note (0.9%) secured by a retail property located in Staten Island, New York.
NoLandGrab: Please don't ask us to explain this.
Las Vegas Sun, Development bills rebuff the logic of Vegas’ tax breaks
One of the central premises of the Culinary Union’s attempt to rein in the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency is that the city is giving huge tax breaks to developers when it should be using those resources to better fund vital government services such as schools.
The union is fighting to put the issue before Las Vegas voters on June 2. Regardless of whether the Culinary is successful, like-minded state legislators may soon achieve some of the union’s goals for it.
...Another bill, sponsored by Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, would take a more mandatory approach than Hardy’s bill. Assembly Bill 458 notes that municipalities often give tax credits or refunds to lure developers and other businesses to economic development zones. The bill would mandate that cities limit the breaks to taxes that do not fund public education.
This would limit the types and size of tax breaks the city gives to encourage downtown development, such as those to Forest City Enterprises for the proposed city hall and to CIM Group for renovation of the Lady Luck.
WCPN Radio, Civic Leaders Cautious About Convention Center/Medical Mart Project
Forest City's toadies friends in city government won't let the developer's bid for Cleveland's Medical Mart go down without a(n increasingly pathetic) fight.
Two weeks ago, Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan counted out a proposal – seemingly once and for all - by developer Forest City Enterprises to build the dual purpose center on its property behind Tower City. Merchandise Mart properties Inc., the county’s private partner in the project, had decided on Mall B, where the current convention center sits, as the chosen site. All that needed to happen from there on was to wrap up negotiations on that site with the city of Cleveland, which owns it. But Tuesday, Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson emphasized that he would hold the County and MMPI to meeting a series of conditions before agreeing to proceed on the mall site – conditions like fair compensation to the city for use of the site, resolving potential conflicts between benefits to the public and MMPI, and that the facility provide enough space to meet the standards of the convention business.
Posted by eric at April 2, 2009 9:41 AM