Lol well I only went back and looked at the site plan since you mentioned it. I would have preferred more green space on the top deck but I'm very happy with the underground parking.
I was by the site and noticed that they have processed the trees that were felled last March. I read were they are going to us some of the trees for park benches in the new development. That would be nice if it turns out to be true. There is a huge new tree trunk and stump of what I think maybe a maple at the tree dump next to the trail leading to Crego Park. The trunk is at least four feet across and has about 70 rings, so I was wondering if it is from the Red Cedar golf coarse. It must be too big to grind up. It's pretty impressive to a big tree guy like me.
The City Pulse has a story saying that Lansing is trying to get the county to take out bonds to pay for the plinths, apparently the county has a better credit rating than the city as they're claiming $7-$10 million in saved interest over the course of the bonds. It also states that they're now expecting to break ground in August.
I'm certainly not ideologically opposed to local government building the plinths, but was that ever talked about in the past, because I don't remember it being. I mean, they are already getting the land cheaper than what a private land owner would probably sell it for, and the city was already going to build the infrastructure such as the roads, not to mention all of the money the local governments and county will be putting in for the public drain part of the project. I'd reluctantly support the bonds just given how important the project is. I'm just wondering if the developers were up front about them not spending their own money to prepare the private part of this site.
When I read about this funding plan I thought I heard the "ut-oh" lady from the Lucy Show. I take it to mean the developers [?] want the city to build the foundations for the new buildings. I know that I have been out in the middle of the ocean for a long time but this is the first time I have ever heard of something like this being proposed. Is this a common practice here? Like Mich points out tax payers are already putting a lot of money into this, are they asking for more,or was this always part of the plan. Is this a deal breaker if it falls through? It does not seem like the out county folks are in the mood for more Lansing based projects. I just want to see Virg and the developers out there with silver shovels in August.
It sounds to me like there will be no problem in issuing the bonds, it's just a question of whether they'll be taken out by Lansing or Ingham County. This is being done through tax increment financing, which from my understanding captures some or all of the new property taxes generated by a project to pay back bonds that went to improving the property, it doesn't sound like any worse of a deal for taxpayers than any of the other property tax breaks. I do not remember them talking about this sort of financing initially although I vaguely remember one of the more recent stories mentioning it.
Ugh. The Jeromes, the father-and-son team who were Ferguson's previous partners on this project, are now filing a major complaint against him and anyone else in the project. Guess they are going to throw everything against the wall to see what sticks. And, they've hired former Michigan AG Mike Cox. What a disaster.
LANSING – Businessman Joel Ferguson’s former partners in developing the Red Cedar Golf Course have filed suit in federal court, saying in their civil complaint that Ferguson is running a "racketeering enterprise" through which, with help from Lansing city officials, he managed "to steal a development called the Red Cedar Renaissance" from them.
The lawsuit was filed by Livonia-based attorney and former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan in Kalamazoo on behalf of Christopher Jerome, Leo Jerome and Story Companies. As of Monday afternoon, a judge had not been assigned to the case.
Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, LEAP President and CEO Bob Trezise, Ferguson’s partner Frank Kass and their joint development company on the project, Ferguson-Continental, LLC.
What a desperate, desperate case. Had he just gone with Ferguson, this might be a case, but he's literally accussing everyone from Ferguson to the drain commissioner of being in complete collusion, and there is no way he has the proof for this vast conspiracy he's cooking up. And, here's the crux of the whole thing, it seems...
The Jeromes are seeking "millions of dollars" in damages from defendants in the federal suit, Cox said.
Meh, I'll wait to hear the verdict. You pointed out the biggest reason to doubt his claim, he's simply alleging the involvement of too many people. He'll have the opportunity to make his case though.
We might not even have to wait that long. It's completely possible it gets thrown out before it even goes to trial, either because a judge throws it out or the parties settle.
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$35 million for infrastructure
What a desperate, desperate case. Had he just gone with Ferguson, this might be a case, but he's literally accussing everyone from Ferguson to the drain commissioner of being in complete collusion, and there is no way he has the proof for this vast conspiracy he's cooking up. And, here's the crux of the whole thing, it seems...