TKC BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE NEWS!!! DISGRACE!!! CITY HALL KEEPING DOWNTOWN KANSAS CITY CONVENTION HOTEL 'TERM SHEET' DEETS SECRET!!!
The struggle for public information is real regarding a taxpayer subsidized Downtown Convention Hotel project that hasn't offered much in the way of financial disclosure.
Moreover . . .
CITY HALL AND ITS VAST ARRAY OF KANSAS CITY ALPHABET SOUP ECONOMIC AGENCIES CONSPIRE TO KEEP DOWNTOWN CONVENTION HOTEL FINANCIAL DATA SECRET!!!
Anti-climax . . .
The reality here isn't surprising and we all know the big secret . . . Kansas City taxpayers by way of clandestine and deceitful tactics from City Hall are really the main backers of a doomed hotel project that hasn't garnered much interest from private investors.
Here's the damage . . . The highlights are mine . . .
UPDATE: OPEN RECORDS REQUEST FOR THE "TERM SHEET" ON THE DOWNTOWN HOTEL FINANCING PACKAGE!
You may or may not remember when the Downtown Hyatt Hotel Developers met with the City Council on December 22, 2015 they stated to the Council they had a firm "term sheet” spelling out the financial arrangements for the project. Our City Manager backed them up stating he had seen the sheet and all was good. This gave the Developers to green light to continue on their project without having to have City Council approval. December 20th was a deadline for the developers to have a significant finance package or the City was ready to possibly pull the plug.
At that meeting several Council Members asked to see the term sheet and the Developers refused to show it. After the meeting, CFRG put in a records request for the City Manager and the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority (LCRA ) which is a division under the Economic Development Commission, which is part of city hall; to produce the term sheet so we could publish it. Remember, the LCRA will own the hotel if it gets built. We have not heard anything from the City Manager but we did get the following response from the EDC President, who oversees the LCRA.
Note: (Since we could not get a hold of anyone at the LCRA, we sent out request to the city Attorney’s off and asked them to forward it to LCRA)
Here is the response we received from the EDC…. “….Cecilia Abbott of the City’s Law Dept forwarded to me your request for information from Joe Egan (head of the LCRA) – who has been out of the office. It appears that neither Mr Egan or Brian Engle (counsel to the LCRA) have received a copy of the term sheet you reference. Sorry we could not be of assistance.”
We thought it was odd that the entity which is going to be the owner of a $300,000,000 plus Hotel was not involved nor had copies of the financing “term sheet”. Perhaps this mythical “term sheet" doesn’t exist??
We asked the EDC about this: “...Thank you for your prompt response. We find it alarming the LCRA is going to own the new hotel and not even they have a copy of the financing terms. What on earth is going on here??
To which the EDC replied: “….The terms of project financing have yet to be approved by LCRA. At the time project financing terms are presented I expect that these terms would be discussed and finalized.”
Does this seem a little confusing? The Developer tells the City Council they have financing for the downtown hotel project, the City Manager swears he’s seen the plan and it "meets all the criteria of the agreement” yet the hotel owner knows nothing about it?? You decide!
Citizens for Responsible Government
###########
Developing . . .
In other words: Wait till the deal is done and then we'll tell you the terms.
ReplyDeleteIn other words: Fuck you. We don't have to tell you nothin'.
ReplyDeleteThis is typical of this City Administration. Total disdain for the voters and transparency.
ReplyDeleteJust this week, the Chicago Tribune wrote about the GLUT of convention space-- this from a REAL destination city. Clearly the KC hotel is a Dunn Deal! What suckers to pay 1% income tax yet not vote. Enjoy the snow, suckers!
ReplyDeleteKevin McManus, 6th District city councilman promised transparency when he was running for city council. Come on McManus get us the term sheet.
ReplyDeleteThere isn't any signed agreement. None. The "term sheet" is merely a menu of hopes and wishes. A starting point, if you will, to jumpstart negotiations.
ReplyDeleteBurke and cohorts have not been able to secure a signed agreement. They are having a devil of a time getting financiers to the table.
This deal is dead. Dead as Tom Pendergast.
Best news that I have heard all day @6:28.
DeleteThis deal needs to be cleared off the slate in 2017. We have more important priorities that still aren't being taken care of.
The "terms" in this deal are very uncomplicated and pretty much the same as all the rest of the publicly-subsidized "projects".
ReplyDeleteThe public gets the risk.
And the private "developers" take the profits.
Refer to the $15-20 million/year from the general fund for the P&L District for reference.
Frosty.
I saw it. Geez it's on the city's website. Click on the link and have at it, morons.
ReplyDeleteCorrected link.
ReplyDeletePass. Looks like a data grab.
DeleteInstead of drivin a snowplow, the city manager should be working on the mess that's the city budget. Layoffs are coming, and these are jobs Trump wont save. Massacre at city hall coming soon.
ReplyDeleteThe term sheet might be confidential, but the financing (like the name of an institution that lends money) should not be. Again, I suspect that the project has almost no equity investment. It is all borrowed money and funds anticipated from "other sources", meaning local governments, the State of Missouri or the feds. Then our wonderful city council people are shocked when the whole deal falls apart and the city gets stuck again. Rinse and repeat.
ReplyDeleteMAJOR CHEERS to CFRG and TKC!
ReplyDeleteThank you both for keeping us informed about this convention center hotel proposal that has been purposely wrapped in secrecy, discussions kept on the down-low, financial backers hidden in the shadows, all while setting up taxpayers to take the fall for this monstrosity in the making.
"We find it alarming the LCRA is going to own the new hotel"
Very few KCMO residents know to this day that City Hall essentially paid for the headquarters expansion of Burns and McDonnell. They entered into a lease arrangement with the developer, who then entered into a lease arrangement with Burns and McDonnell. The entire exercise, from the original blight designation, to a gravy-train of subsidies/incentives/leaseback deals, was for a wealthy employee-owned company that had stated upfront they would remain in KCMO and had no intention of moving elsewhere. Average employee compensation is over $100K, and most of the staff live outside of KCMO.