Quote:
Originally Posted by he's so hott
The things I would want to see if I were the Durham City Council would the proposed hotel group's name and I would want to see the study that Greenfire has done to prove that downtown Durham needs 17 more stories of Class A (Class A is my assumption) office space. My guess is that Greenfire has no commitment from a hotel group, otherwise we would have heard the name of the group and they have nothing to backup the need for a 17 stories of office space. If I were on the City Council, I would not vote to give them 12mil without seeing something concrete.
Proposals like this come and go in cities all across the country and the ones that typically don't get done are the ones that are as vague in terms of tenants as the Greenfire proposal is.
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Actually, there's been a hotel group contracted for almost a year. In fairness, the group in question is a new corporation -- but it's helmed by a man who was formerly the head of Kimpton Hotels, Loews Hotels, and W Hotels, all well known luxury brands. I've actually run into folks from the firm, Lifestyle Hospitality, touring and working inside the Hill Building, prepping for the retrofit.
A 17-story tower? The City put that property out to bid several years ago, a bid that was won by Carl Webb, a local businessman who's now part of the Greenfire team. A signature, tall tower adding to the skyline was a goal set by the City. Downtown Durham has absorbed 1.5 million sq. ft. of office space in recent years; it's completely feasible than in 4-5 years time another 200,000 sq. ft. could be absorbed.
The City's incentives would be paid out only after each building in question goes online -- and those incentives would be offset by the incremental property taxes. Additionally, Greenfire would be committed to delivery dates on each and every building. They miss a date, they lose all their incentive dollars.
The leverage ratio is about 14:1 ($14 private investment per $1 public) in this plan; that compares to 5:1 for American Tobacco.
Are there problems with the plan? Sure, and there always are. But, frankly, there's been a lot going on with this plan for a very long time. I've written much more about this on my eponymously-named blog, though I understand that links to blogs aren't OK, so I'll avoid naming it.
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BTW, I don't make it here often anymore and haven't in some months at all, but thanks to those of you who've sent me such nice notes. I'll try to stop in and say hi every now and then!
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