An anonymous veteran sent me this today;
Passed with American Legion last night. 16 vet groups are proposed at former Badlands With Legion & VFW major players. Badlands also includes liquor license and adjoining prior Hoy building offices. VFW vote is 11/4. VFW is presently closed. Legion Post 15 is 1,500 active members.
Disturbing: City attorney has privately organized this with new nonprofit corporation. Sanford is a major player who will have offices there supposedly for vet health care advisory.
VFW would sell property at Minnesota & 229. Includes mini warehouses and fast food place. Value is more than $10 million.
Legion would sell their property for about 1 million but includes liquor license (330k).
There’s a purchase option on Badlands property that must be exercised soon.
American Legion and VFW in Sioux City have failed and are closed. Badlands will become not only local but regional and a national focus if not trait. Legion/VFW have combined in several other SD cities.
Predicted first year operations at Badlands will be about 10 million with a 300k profit. Land and improvements owned. Property tax exempt.
Maybe Sanford would like to bailout the SDDP. 😉
“Predicted first year operations at Badlands will be about 10 million with a 300k profit”.
What Mike Huether magic math are they using to think this place is going to turn into an entertainment mecca IMMEDIATELY? Pie in the sky guesstimations are the norm in this media market I guess.
Oh wait, having the property be tax exempt sounds more like how he’d do it. Trumpeting “Look at the redevelopment success story for our Veterans! A new entertainment venue better than ever!” while everyone ignores the fact that those numbers are a fever dream guess and that 0% property tax on an $8M building “valuation” is $0 back to the city in tax revenue. Which is probably why Chucky loves this sale in particular! Sounds like another way to push a TIF to get an eyesore off the market to be honest…
I hope they bring back the late night Badlands Pawn Infomercial with it, too. I especially enjoyed back then, the segments about making a good sub sandwich.
The Badlands Pawn thing deserves enlightenment. It was doomed to begin with but what’s left has perspective. It is a landmark that could become prominent with a new purpose. Brennan may have had the wrong business concept but there’s this redevelopment purpose that pises significance publicly.