July 2016

Prominent Developer in Sioux Falls sends an email to city councilors ‘whining’ about how he has been treated by the Mayor and the Development Office

l3wis July 15, 2016 6Comments

 

The wife of the developer and the mayor having an ‘engaging conversation’ in HyVee’s parking lot (Wednesday morning, 7-13-2016). When was the email sent to councilors? About 2 PM, that same day.

I won’t publish the entire email diatribe from the developer, his name, or the project he refers to, but I will give you some highlights of this seemingly ‘staged’ email.

“The administration eventually conceded that they could provide up to $15 million in bonding authority but “not a penny more”. On December 21, 2015 the City and the 2 private partners received the preliminary budget from — —- Construction. The — —- — structure was estimated to cost $17.3 million . . . . However instead of revising their budget to reflect this new reality the administration insisted that they would require the private sector to give them at least $2 million of the proposed private TIF which left us short by the same amount.”

He was basically saying the project cost jumped $2 million from what was originally proposed by the city, and they were not going to include that extra amount in the TIF. But where the email gets interestingly faux is towards the end;

“For the next 3 months the community develop office worked diligently with us to identify other sources of financing and or grants. We even attempted to find HUD affordable housing funds to help offset the joint budget shortfall.  At that point in late March the Mayor weighed in and decided that any additional monies needed to help offset the budget shortfall was considered “corporate welfare” and asked us to terminate the negotiations immediately.”

Corporate Welfare?! HUD Money?! LMAO! First off, the mayor is the queen of corporate welfare, this is the same guy who gave his tennis center $500K and then slapped his name on it and blockaded the parking lot. Secondly, HUD money for this project IS NOT EVEN REMOTELY AN OPTION!

“As I read this I realize it sounds as though I am whining. And yes I will admit there is a little bit in here. We, as developers, know the risks that every project may not work just like we thought going into it. But I think it is important for you all as policy makers to know the facts of what actually happened and not be swayed by current requests and excuses for an increase in budget. This project is too important for the future of —- to let politics get in the way of it succeeding. Thanks for letting me vent a little and feel free to contact me if you need any more additional information.”

While I will say, he is probably telling the truth about the process and numbers in his email, saying he is whining, is laying it on a bit thick. When on God’s green earth has a prominent developer in Sioux Falls given a rat’s behind about what the council thinks? They have always taken the back door approach through the administration and his minions in the development and planning offices.

Not sure what is cooking, but I suspect the mayor has a few of his ingredients in this stew.