Kevin Daniels, developer, paid $1.5M to take over core of park, three buildings and 5.5 acres with more land accessible for parking. In the lease, State Parks cannot deny any reasonable request of this developer, with "reasonable" in the lease, not defined.
Daniels purchased waterfront land that does not equal what he is taking. Daniels deeded that land to State Parks June 22, 2018, then signed the lease.
The McDonalds had been trying to sell this land for decades, at one time offering it to State Parks for $400,000. The lot had been shunned by developers because of its steep hazard slope and disappearing beach; the setbacks make it questionable as even one home building site. It is so steep, it can't be walked by many baby boomers. It is also geographically landlocked by a difficult easement. So, it is classified as "Natural" by State Ecology.
Daniels recently disclosed that with the large number of convention goers he envisions per year -- 70,000 with no cap on that in the lease, he estimates he can pay State Parks $200,000 per year. However, this is not the same as providing land of equal value as required by the Land and Water Conservation Act -- more on that in a different post, how the buildings and land are controlled by the Act.
Further, the public was told the main building of the three Daniels is taking would be a huge liability to any agency. The main building will not require the $40M renovation State Parks said it would require to make it stable, which Daniels reiterated publicly as a potential, but smiling and stating that he was willing to take the gamble on the public's behalf. Kind of like his development on Columbia in Seattle, where he was such a nice guy that he was willing to lose all sorts of money according to his press sent to business journals and still published on his own website. Fortunately, developers of historic buildings can take a 20% personal income tax deduction on the cost of "saving" the building.
The big unknown to the public of the Saint Edward State Park main building was the scary assessment for seismic retrofit, which Daniels disclosed shortly before he signed the lease to cost only $1M, down quite a bit from the public disclosure of $40M to make the building stable. This is a doable cost for many low impact entities, even with electrical, heating renovation and painting costs. The State stopped ground water intrusion and did other renovations, a recent public cost of $3M, so good-by unhealthy mold.
Daniels is not providing an legal exchange, nor an equal exchange according to the Land and Water Conservation Act and the 1978 State General Administration Deed to State Parks.
Please see most recent post for up-to-date actions you can take.
Daniels purchased waterfront land that does not equal what he is taking. Daniels deeded that land to State Parks June 22, 2018, then signed the lease.
The McDonalds had been trying to sell this land for decades, at one time offering it to State Parks for $400,000. The lot had been shunned by developers because of its steep hazard slope and disappearing beach; the setbacks make it questionable as even one home building site. It is so steep, it can't be walked by many baby boomers. It is also geographically landlocked by a difficult easement. So, it is classified as "Natural" by State Ecology.
Daniels recently disclosed that with the large number of convention goers he envisions per year -- 70,000 with no cap on that in the lease, he estimates he can pay State Parks $200,000 per year. However, this is not the same as providing land of equal value as required by the Land and Water Conservation Act -- more on that in a different post, how the buildings and land are controlled by the Act.
Further, the public was told the main building of the three Daniels is taking would be a huge liability to any agency. The main building will not require the $40M renovation State Parks said it would require to make it stable, which Daniels reiterated publicly as a potential, but smiling and stating that he was willing to take the gamble on the public's behalf. Kind of like his development on Columbia in Seattle, where he was such a nice guy that he was willing to lose all sorts of money according to his press sent to business journals and still published on his own website. Fortunately, developers of historic buildings can take a 20% personal income tax deduction on the cost of "saving" the building.
The big unknown to the public of the Saint Edward State Park main building was the scary assessment for seismic retrofit, which Daniels disclosed shortly before he signed the lease to cost only $1M, down quite a bit from the public disclosure of $40M to make the building stable. This is a doable cost for many low impact entities, even with electrical, heating renovation and painting costs. The State stopped ground water intrusion and did other renovations, a recent public cost of $3M, so good-by unhealthy mold.
Daniels is not providing an legal exchange, nor an equal exchange according to the Land and Water Conservation Act and the 1978 State General Administration Deed to State Parks.
Please see most recent post for up-to-date actions you can take.
Stay tuned for regulatory agency responses.
ReplyDeleteThis property was purchased with Federal Land Water Conservation money. This fund is dedicated to saving land from most all future development. LWCA properties are set aside for "passive" activities. LWCA purchases essentially forbid future development of the subject property. The Daniels Conference Center exceeds the intent of LWCA purchase if not the letter of the law.
ReplyDelete