By Fletcher McCusker
One thing I know about this Rio Nuevo board is that we listen, we have extended public comment, virtually eliminated executive sessions, we have polled public sentiment and we welcome comment and feedback. That kind of feedback has produced more open sessions, a better agenda with significant background for each topic and full disclosure on cash and finances. However to be truly successful we all need to deal with the same set of facts. By my count Bruce Ash’s editorial has at least 7 misstatements that if I read on the surface would incite me as a taxpayer as well.
The Rio Nuevo board did not commit to buy the Manning House for $3,200,000. We did approve a motion to negotiate a $20,000 option to purchase the Manning, subject to our ability to find a partner or partners on a development project on that site. We also made certain that we would not violate the statute, as Ash suggests we did, by making the motion subject to legal review by the State. We are not interested in bailing out the Manning House, it is a failed business model. However, attached to the historic house is 4 acres of undeveloped land 2 blocks from the convention center that with a little imagination could become a boutique hotel property, the precise mission of the Rio Nuevo District. That is more doable when you look at the strip of land running south from the Manning that could create a Congress Street entrance that could connect to the west side lots, new retail, another hotel property and walking trails along the abandoned rail lines right to the TCC and streetcar.
We have tripled the forensic audit budget and accelerated the engagement of the auditors. Our primary focus is, in fact, on the TCC and saving the Gem Show, which not only requires decent convention space but additional hotel rooms around the TCC.
By discussing the Manning House in an open meeting and inviting prospective partners we have shined a bright light on downtown opportunities and we have since heard from several hotel operators, a 35,000 square foot tenant prospect, out of town developers and an apartment developer interested in partnering. That kind of demand could spill over onto other area vacant property.
I have seen this kind of negative energy before downtown. When we launched Second Saturday the naysayers said we’d never get people to come downtown. That event was drawing over 10,000 people a month before the streetcar construction and still brings over 5,000 people a month. I heard it when I got involved with the Fox Theatre, shut it down, it is a failed experiment, there is no place to park, streets are not safe, etc. The Fox now draws 100,000 people a year to multiple sold out shows. The theatre has a 17,000 name mailing list of patrons and it is widely appreciated by artists as one of the best acoustical theatres in the country.
The Rio Nuevo District is open for business. We will find a way to extend our resources by attracting private sector partners, we can make the TCC functional, we can bring not one but maybe two or three hotel projects to the area around the TCC and we can develop the Westside of the freeway as approved by the voters in 1999.
I hope to see Bruce downtown.