Lister Block | ? | 6 fl | Renovation

[fastcarsfreedom]

My "guess" here is that LIUNA insisted on office space because the way the deal is/was brokered--it was a guaranteed money-maker. Like it or not, finding funding for projects downtown is not easy--the Lister redo was a solid business case with a tenant signed on the line--exactly what LIUNA required to get the financing for the project. Hotel projects are particularly dicey as far as financing goes--especially when you're dealing with potentially expensive adaptive reuse...hence LIUNA's subsequent problems getting financing for the Connaught (which, in case you've forgotten, is consortium-owned of which LIUNA is merely a part). Althought there is a "lack" of Class A space downtown (relative to Class B)--this project would not be flying if LIUNA didn't have the city signed up and committed.

Really--as evil as LIUNA is painted--this is a business project, not a charity case. Damning them for structuring a deal that is profitable is nonsense.

Metrus "vacated" the tenants from the property with the sole intent of demolishing it, and the economic bust of the early 1990s is all that prevented that very thing from happening.