One Lakewood Place

[pj bennett]

The link to the powerpoint isn't working. Here it is again.

http://www.onelakewood.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/TermSheetIntroBryce04112018.pdf

[Mark Kindt]

After reading the One Lakewood Place FAQ, I am convinced more than ever that the citizens of Lakewood need to establish a truth commission to analyze the endless reams of BS in the documents that the city administration generates.

Just one point. The reason that the hospital site cannot be used or re-purposed for healthcare purposes is that a whopping non-competition covenant was part of the Master Agreement. It has nothing to do with the difficulty of adaptive re-use for a hospital. This is an absolute howler.

We need to have some actual "truthiness" in public documents.

[Nadhal Eadeh]

Mark,

The arrogance of the Summers administration, the lack of political courage on city council and the refusal of the Lakewood Democratic Party to hold their membership accountable should give Lakewood residents pause.

Healthcare is the hottest market in Northeast Ohio:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/06/busi ... ngine.html

“From Akron to Youngstown and Canton to Cleveland, as in cities and towns across the country, workers who once walked out of factories at the end of each shift now stream out of hospitals.

While manufacturing employment has fallen nearly 40 percent in northeastern Ohio since 2000, the number of health care jobs in the region has jumped more than 30 percent over the same period. In Akron, the onetime rubber capital of the world, only one of the city’s 10 largest employers still makes tires. Three are hospitals.

“People who used to make deliveries to factories are now making them to hospitals,” said Samuel D. DeShazior, Akron’s deputy mayor for economic development.”

The no-compete clause is the smoking gun of foul play at city hall. Truth commission is great: an Attorney Generals or DOJ audit would be even better.

Nadhal

[Mark Kindt]

More Falsehoods From City Administration -- Why The Lies?

If you consult the Third Amended Charter under Section 8.1 Ethics, you will see that both elected and appointed public officials have the following obligations:

"The citizens also rightfully expect honesty, respect and fair treatment by all involved in governance." (emphasis added.)

The One Lakewood Place FAQ recently posted on the City website tells us that using conservative numbers the project will have a return of investment for the City in four years by the generation of both income and property tax revenues.

Using the City's own analysis, we can see that this representation is false. The actual return on investment using the conservative numbers is 11 years. ($6,000,000 divided by $538,803)

The return on investment using the optimal numbers in the City's own analysis is 7 years. ($6,000,000 divided by $852,936)

Study the attached document and do the calculations yourself.

Tell my why I am wrong!

[Mark Kindt]

The four year rate of return is radically understated in the City's analysis for several additional reasons.

The estimate of the fair market value of the former hospital site is only an estimate and is not based upon an independent real estate appraisal.

The City's analysis does not include the dollar value of site demolition, site remediation, and site preparation estimated by the planning director at $7,000,000.

Finally, the City's analysis does not include the dollar value of proposed incentives to new tenants in the development as described in the term sheet for the project.

Just adding only the $7M to the City analysis, the conservative rate of return to taxpayers is 24 years; the optimal rate of return is 15 years.

I want to again point out that under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission statutes and regulations a city such as Lakewood that issues bonds for sale to investors does not have the legal right to make material misrepresentations about its financial condition.

[Stan Austin]

Mr. Kindt--- could a city's misrepresentation on a specific proposal by extension taint its claims to investors on general bond issues?

[Mark Kindt]

Let's ask the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to answer Mr. Austin's question:

https://www.sec.gov/litigation/investre ... -69516.htm

Misrepresentations made by elected and appointed officials may violate the Third Amended Charter, internal City human resources policies, and, if they are material financial misrepresentations, be actionable against the City under the federal securities laws by the government.

I have previously written about this topic at length in "Civic Accountability -- Honesty in Local Government I" starting in December of 2016. Many of the observations that I made at that time have been further substantiated by subsequent public documents (like the email from two LHA Trustees confirming that the investment numbers offered by the city administration were, and I quote, "bogus").

Because of these and other problems, I continue to call for municipal reform and new candidates to run for public office in Lakewood, like Ms. George and Mr. Rader.

I ground each post that I write either in an actual public document or in a reported media statement from an official.

Each source of information can be verified. I have no independent sources other that what the City generates itself.

Sometimes a calculator helps (!)

[cameron karslake]

Mark Kindt wrote:

"Just one point. The reason that the hospital site cannot be used or re-purposed for healthcare purposes is that a whopping non-competition covenant was part of the Master Agreement. It has nothing to do with the difficulty of adaptive re-use for a hospital."

I hope that everyone here knows by now that the Clinic offered to do away with the "non-competition covenant" if things got too messy. It was MAYOR SUMMERS who insisted it stay in the Master Agreement.

Why, you ask? His answer was to make sure the Clinic's FHC is successful...as if the largest employer in the region needs our help to stay afloat!! That in itself is a betrayal of every citizen in Lakewood and of capitalism itself.

Healthy competition, I thought that's what made the capitalist system so GREAT! Obviously, we can't have any of that here in Lakewood with jerks like Summers at the helm.

[Mark Kindt]

The four year rate of return is radically understated in the City's analysis for several additional reasons.

The estimate of the fair market value of the former hospital site is only an estimate and is not based upon an independent real estate appraisal.

The City's analysis does not include the dollar value of site demolition, site remediation, and site preparation estimated by the planning director at $7,000,000.

Finally, the City's analysis does not include the dollar value of proposed incentives to new tenants in the development as described in the term sheet for the project.

Just adding only the $7M to the City analysis, the conservative rate of return to taxpayers is 24 years; the optimal rate of return is 15 years.

I want to again point out that under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission statutes and regulations a city such as Lakewood that issues bonds for sale to investors does not have the legal right to make material misrepresentations about its financial condition.

Let's Debunk Funny Numbers from the City Administration

If we use the city administration's own numbers, we learn that the payback period to recover the tax subsidies to the developer ranges from a low of 7 years to an outer range of 24 years. (These numbers are from the city document attached to one of my earlier posts in this thread)

[pj bennett]

I attended the Special Meeting of Council tonight and will relay in various posts, those points that stood out for me.

First, those present were Robyn Minter Smyers of Thompson Hine, Carnegie Director of Business Development Rustom Khouri III and Carnegie Project Executive George Papapandreas, as well as Tracey Nichols of Project Management Consultants.

During the discussion of Finance Returns to the city, Nichols stated not to forget the fact that employees at One Lakewood Place, will be spending money in Lakewood, which will ‘multiply’ the return.

She also mentioned that this is a volatile economy, and that banks are concerned about backing any development involving retail. However, she went on to say that Lakewood is HOT, right now.

Councilperson Meghan George stated that she does not want to be rushed in the decision-making process. She understands that Carnegie has a convention (International Council of Shopping Centers) in May to attend in Las Vegas, but she feels that this is too big of an issue to hurry through.

You see, Carnegie wants to be able to vet the One Lakewood Place project at the convention. Consequently, Carnegie wants a sign-off on the Term Sheet in time for the convention. Papapandreas said that Carnegie is ‘taking a risk.”

The Mayor mentioned that since they’ve been on this project for 15 months, it is hardly a rush.

Carnegie needs to be able to commit on a date for an office tenant. Papapandreas said, “Our prospects are asking, when can we deliver?” He goes on to say, that they’ve been pursuing this for sometime. Hmmm. Is, since October, 2017 considered a long time? That’s when it was publicly announced that Carnegie had been chosen as the developer.

Weather needs to be considered. If a decision is delayed, then a season might be missed.

Council Ward 3 John Litten doesn’t see a problem of having multiple meetings to get all the questions asked within the May deadline timeframe.

There’s no question, that the Mayor, Bryce Sylvester and Carnegie are applying pressure on council. Just like with the hospital issue. But, instead of Clinic people, there's Carnegie, Smyers, Nichols, and Building Trade unions (2 men spoke during public comment) pressuring council.

It’s obvious that most members of council are performing like puppets on a string. Only Council At Large members George and Tristan Rader asked decent questions.

I’ll report more later.

[Bridget Conant]

I think this says it all:

She also mentioned that this is a volatile economy, and that banks are concerned about backing any development involving retail.

So does Summers, et. al, know more than the bank analysts, whose business it is to calculate risk? Retail is highly risky, there’s no getting around it.

And the push to hurry and close. Sounds like going to buy a car and the salesman’s typical pitch - gotta sign today, the deals ends today!

How stupid are these people?

It’s OUR money they’re spending!

I’m VERY impressed with Meghan George for demanding answers. It’s no wonder she was the top vote getter.

Wise up council, she was elected for a reason. We are tired of your shenanigans!

[pj bennett]

Back to the Building Trades. There was a Dave W and (I think) Terry Joyce, a former Lakewoodite present, who made public comments.
(Actually, they gushed.)

They couldn’t have been more enthused about ‘this opportunity’ that Lakewood is having AND, that it is Carnegie, who will be developing it.
Dave W. was once a councilman in Broadview Hts, and said that “they never had an opportunity like this.”

(I guess they didn’t have a hospital they could tear down. Nor, were they able to feed their largest employer to the sharks.)

He went on to state, “Any community would kill to have an opportunity like this.”

I kept wondering: Why are they here? Who brought them in?

M. George asked about public financing. Loans? Grants?
After some various comments were made, I think the bottom line is that they don’t know yet. (If someone can correct me on this, please do so.)

Nichols mentioned the ‘rumor mill’. That things need to be signed in order to get committed tenants.

The mayor said that “many of these dollars are tied to job creations.”

(As I mentioned earlier, he said that this project has been in the works for 15 months - that it is hardly a rush job -in response to M. George saying that she didn’t want to be rushed in making a decision. He continued with the fact, that M. George has only been involved for a short time. Yet, council only got the Term Sheet this month. Again, hardly a rush job.)

M. George wanted to know Carnegie’s focus? Papapandreas’s answer: Office tenants. (There will be 4 floors of offices.)

He thinks that retail will fall into place, as it connects to the elements of the office tenants.

(So, I guess that if office tenants require coffee, there will be a coffee shop. If they require ice cream, there will be an ice cream shop.)

Carnegie is now canvassing the kind of prospects, that can plan 3 years from now.

Bullock quotes, “What we’re hearing from the experts…… that it is crucial that….. negotiations of agreements.” “Hit the ball out of the park.” “Hit the next ball out of the park.” “Vision and due diligence.”

Bullock, who arrived late due to attending some pre-scheduled meetings with residents, said a few more things. He has a habit of asking a question, and then talking with a stream of consciousness, until reaching a conclusion that he is satisfied with.

He’d like some time devoted to the overall look of One Lakewood Place.
(I wonder, why there wasn't any input as to the look of the Family Health Care Center? It hardly fits in with the neighborhood.)

Again, the pressure was really being put onto council, despite the fact that they only received the Term Sheet this month.

I got the feeling that the mayor et al. are including council in these discussions, only because they must.

Coming up: P O P S (Privately Owned Public Spaces)

[Jim O'Bryan]

Bullock, who arrived late due to attending some pre-scheduled meetings with residents, said a few more things. He has a habit of asking a question, and then talking with a stream of consciousness, until reaching a conclusion that he is satisfied with.

PJ

Thanks for the notes.

I would like to say two things about the above quote.

1) VERY GOOD Observation.

2) The condition is called "Chronemics" which can be planned and/or another form or variation of Passive Aggressive Disorder, which is outlined here...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronemics


Thanks again.


.

[pj bennett]

A 2 hour video of last night's Special Council meeting, has been posted on the onelakewood.com website.

http://www.onelakewood.com/downtowndevelopment/

[Pam Wetula]

A 2 hour video of last night's Special Council meeting, has been posted on the onelakewood.com website.

http://www.onelakewood.com/downtowndevelopment/

Thank you PJ!!!

The Mayor mentioned that since they’ve been on this project for 15 months, it is hardly a rush.

Carnegie needs to be able to commit on a date for an office tenant. Papapandreas said, “Our prospects are asking, when can we deliver?” He goes on to say, that they’ve been pursuing this for sometime. Hmmm. Is, since October, 2017 considered a long time? That’s when it was publicly announced that Carnegie had been chosen as the developer.

The Mayor should tell the truth. He's been on this project for at least 7-8 years. He only bothered to let us in on this recently.

Carnegie needs...Carnegie needs...Carnegie needs...

Isn't free prime 5.7 acres in downtown Lakewood enough plus free demolition of the hospital building enough!

Papapandreas said, “Our prospects are asking, when can we deliver?” Name those prospects.