From Planet S, regarding the Lake Placid deal...
The article is pretty standard information that everyone on here is pretty familiar with, but let me turn your attention to the bolded final paragraph. I was of the understanding already that the Marriott brand was a step below the "luxury" hotel tenant that had been hoped for, but I wasn't aware that this involved a complete scaling back of the hotel and its services (i.e.- conference space, restuarant. Can anyone provide more info on this?
By the way the article makes it sound, Lake Placid is scaling back this project to something lackluster, and not much fuss has been made about it. Is this just a Planet S spin?
Back To The Future
COUNCIL TURNS ONCE AGAIN TO LAKE PLACID AS RIVER LANDING ANCHOR
by Charles Hamilton
Lake Placid is back in the captain’s chair as far as River Landing’s Parcel Y is concerned.
In a 10-1 vote on April 12, Council decided to re-open negotiations with Lake Placid, the development company that says it can start work on a $250 million hotel, condo and office complex on the city’s downtown riverfront any day now.
What’s more, it looks almost certain that Council will be selling the "most valuable real estate in the country" to Lake Placid for roughly half the appraised price.
Council didn’t agree to finalize the price of land in terms of a sale to Lake Placid, but five of the 11 Councillors did support a motion that would sell the land to the developer for no less than $4.8 million (the price Lake Placid was originally supposed to have paid for it), which seems to indicate that that will be the final tally. This is in spite of two separate appraisals, released earlier that week, that put the price of the land at upwards of $11 million.
Still, Lake Placid CEO Michael Lobsinger argues that, even if they get the land at the original rate, his company isn’t getting a deal. He told reporters after the meeting that when he found out that the original purchase price back in 2005 was $1.6 million (in a deal between Remai Investments and the City, which later fell through), he was taken aback when his company was asked to pay more than double that.
“I thought I was getting badly treated when I had to pay $4.8 million,” said Lobsinger. “So am I getting a deal?”
With all the delay, confusion and controversy surrounding the site, citizens of Saskatoon may be asking the same thing.
This will be Lobsinger’s fourth opportunity to get the River Landing project off the ground. In 2009, he failed on three separate occasions to acquire the necessary funding to complete the project, often cited as the most important development in Saskatoon’s history.
This time around, however, he has a highly respected local partner in Karim Nasser — a local developer and philanthropist who recently donated $12 million to the U of S. Another advantage, perhaps, is that the majority of council members seem to be feeling a real sense of urgency in pushing the project forward.
“Just get ‘er done,” said Councillor Maurice Neault, who made the original motion. “At $4.8 million, the City of Saskatoon gets back all its investment, plus comes away with a profit, plus gets a $250 million project.”
When asked about the land price, Mayor Don Atchison told Council he would rather not discuss the matters in public.
“We don’t want Mr. Lobsinger and Mr. Nasser to know what we’re thinking,” he said, later adding that “we want to get value to our citizens, but there’s a question of fairness as well.”
Technically, the price is still up for debate — and to be fair, there’s serious opposition to selling it for less than the appraised value from some council members — but with five councillors on board already, it’s very unlikely that the City will sell the land for anything more than the original $4.8 million.
Sorry, Mayor Atchison — it seems fairly obvious that Mr. Lobsinger and Dr. Nasser know exactly what council is thinking.
Still, if the City does sell the land for less than market value, they’ll be obligated by law to hold public notice — although that may not exactly mean much.
“It has to come forward and people have the right to their say — [although] maybe not their way,” said Neault. “[The final decision] is still done through the vote of council.”
In order to move ahead, the City also says it needs to see a clear financial picture from Lobsinger and his new partner — and until they get that picture there are still a lot of questions.
Neither Lobsinger nor Nasser answered any reporter’s questions about the exact nature of their partnership, though Lobsinger did say that under the new arrangement he’s “absolutely” confident his proposal will pass the financial test.
But why exactly Lobsinger had so much trouble getting his money in order last time around is still a question he refuses to answer. On separate occasions, he’s alluded to Canadian, American and European business regulations preventing him from getting hold of the proper financing. And last November, Lobsinger had famously said he was “one signature away” from closing the deal — but it now appears that, thanks to the partnership with Dr. Nasser, he’s prepared to move ahead without that signature.
“Dr. Nasser and I are proceeding down another vein,” he said. “The financing to proceed with this project is in place.”
Where the new money is coming from is anybody’s guess — and whether or not Lobsinger and Dr. Nasser would pay the appraised price of $11 million for the land if the City demanded it is also unclear.
“We are going to negotiate with the administration, not the press,” Lobsinger said.
(This clearly is true — at one point after the council meeting, Lobsinger lashed out verbally at one reporter who asked about his credibility as developer, given the long list of delays and problems with the River Landing project.)
In the meantime, the City will decide sometime in May whether or not to sell the land to Lake Placid and for what price.
If Council’s decision works out in Lake Placid’s favour — and if all their money comes through —
it seems that Saskatoon will get a smaller-scale Mariott hotel, with 150 to 200 rooms and some meeting room space. The “select service” hotel will not have a conference space or a restaurant, but there will also be a large parking garage, some retail space and condos on the highly-prized riverfront site.
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