Deadline nears for Lake Placid
Financing close for River Landing project, Nasser says
By David Hutton, The StarPhoenix October 29, 2010 8:41 AM
Michael Lobsinger of Lake Placid Developments (right) and Karim Nasser of Victory Majors Investment Corp.
Photograph by: Richard Marjan, The StarPhoenix
The fate of the signature $200-million River Landing development will be known Monday, the final deadline for developers to prove they have financing in place to move forward.
A news conference is planned for the end of the day, when Mayor Don Atchison will confirm whether Lake Placid Developments, in partnership with Victory Majors Investments Corp., has been able to show it has the wherewithal to build the city's most-hyped project -- a cornerstone private-sector development on Parcel Y in the city's south downtown that has been more than three years in the making.
Since June, the group has had an agreement in place with the city to build a
$200-million-plus complex across Second Avenue from the Remai Arts Centre that would include a hotel, residential condo tower and two office-retail buildings surrounding a public plaza and pool.
To break ground, however, the group has to show the city documentation by Monday at 5 p.m. that an estimated $50 million to $60 million is in place to build an expensive underground parkade and bring the project to grade level.
The company has to deliver confirmation it has the financing, city officials said. The city would then verify through an auditor if the financing is sufficient. If the auditor is satisfied, the company has 15 business days to pay a remaining $5 million for the land.
If the group fails to secure the financing, a deposit of $250,000, which was paid to the city in June, will be returned and council will have to decide at its next meeting how to proceed with the storied and controversial piece of real estate.
To this point, no funding has been finalized but the proponents remain hopeful it will come together in time. The complex agreement has taken more time than initially believed, said Karim Nasser of Victory Majors.
"We're very close to both getting there and doing what's needed by the city," said Nasser.
"As the baseball player said, 'It's not over until it's over.' "
Mayor Don Atchison said he still holds out hope financing will be secured.
"Nobody has told me that it won't happen," Atchison said. "When you're dealing with this size of project and the financial funding that needs to be put into place, then it can get right down to the wire. . . . I suppose it's a glass is half-full or half-empty (scenario). We'll find out Monday if it's half full or if it's empty."
The end of the day Monday is the last chance for the project, Atchison said.
"I think the community as a whole has been waiting and waiting and waiting and it's kind've like, 'Now we need to know, ' " Atchison said.
Six months ago, Lake Placid CEO Michael Lobsinger and Nasser, backed by a long list of businesspeople, stood in front of council and said they expected financing to be in place imminently with shovels in the ground within six weeks.
"We can move forward and move forward quickly," Lobsinger told council.
In September, a hole dug three years ago for Lake Placid's 18-storey condominium project in Calgary was ordered backfilled by the city there because it was a hazard.
Nasser said the Monday deadline is the final one -- the group won't ask for another extension.
"Either we will be ready Monday or we'll say thank you to the city and go on our way," he said.
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