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Downtown Sioux Falls Private Partnership with parking ramp is a horrible idea, and gets worse by the day

l3wis 10Comments

During the Sioux Falls city council informational meeting yesterday, community development did a presentation to council for the new DT parking ramp. I responded at public input last night at the regular council meeting on how baffling it is that a majority of the council supports such a poor plan.

What troubles me is that the plan sounds worse and worse each day, yet the city council gets stronger with it’s support.

Only councilors Stehly and Starr oppose it. Starr doesn’t like the idea we are spending $18 million for only 190-240 parking spots. Stehly takes issue with the investors and Legacy development.

Some things I pointed out, piggy backing off of what Starr and Stehly said earlier at the informational meeting;

  • Why do we need to use the CIP, 2nd penny fund as collateral for the bond? Why not use the other parking structures we own as collateral?
  • Why even go into private partnership with Legacy when we would get more parking spaces for less if we built it stand alone. The city has already admitted we need more parking DT. Why spend almost $100,000 a space when we could spend $20,000 a space? Recently the SF Airport proposed spending that amount on parking spaces for a parking ramp they are proposing for $22 million and 1,100 spaces.
  • If we NEED to go into private partnership with a private developer, why choose Legacy? Even though they are not part of the OSHA investigation and fines, they still could be included in a civil wrongful death suit due to their ties to Hultgren Construction. Why get in bed with that?
  • And one of the most glaring parts of the informational meeting is what was said about investors. At first, community development director, Darin Ketchum says that NO city employees, elected officials or their families or spouses are investing in the project. So Stehly asked Ketchum, “Do you know WHO the investors are.” Ketchum reponds “No.” HUH!? How can you guarantee no city investment from employees when you don’t have a list to compare to? While I am willing to believe that NO city employees are investing, I do think Ketchum is lying about the investor list, I think him and his partner in crime, city attorney Fiddle-Faddle have seen the investor list.

So when will the insanity stop? Will more then two councilors get on board to stop this project before it is too late?

Developers Development Downtown Sioux Falls

It seems a majority of Sioux Falls city councilors are still moving forward with Legacy developing DT parking ramp

l3wis 3Comments

Councilors Starr and Stehly are not buying it though, and questioning investors;

“There will be zero conflicts of interest. They’ve made a commitment since day one and it was part of the request for qualifications that they can’t have any conflicts with city employees,” Ketcham said. “They will not accept any city participation.”

There is also a partnership between Legacy Development and Aaron Hultgren, whose company, Hultgren construction was fined roughly $100,000 by OSHA on Monday for the downtown building collapse, which killed 24-year-old Ethan McMahon, where the new mixed use parking ramp would be built.

Hultgren is an employee at Legacy and the site of the building collapse, which Hultgren Construction, LLC had been working on at the time of the collapse, had been sold to Legacy by Tim Kant, the owner of the Copper Lounge, in 2015.

When asked whether there was any sort of reconsideration about the partnership between the City and Legacy Development as a result of the building collapse in December 2016, or in the past 24 hours as a result the fines imposed by OSHA, Ketcham only said Hultgren Construction wasn’t involved in the project.

Besides the fact that Legacy has financial ties to Hultgren construction and has used them on several projects, somehow they seem to think they can wash their hands of the tie with the new parking ramp because they are using a different construction company.

Hey, I say, use the different construction company, the engineers and architects, but DO NOT allow a development company with such poor judgment to manage the project.

Also, the FINAL judgment and REPORT from OSHA does not get released until June, and that’s when the civil suits could rear their head. Could Legacy be on the hook for damages? We don’t know, and this ‘not knowing’ is a good enough reason for the city to find a different RFQ for this project.

Code Enforcement Developers Development Downtown Sioux Falls SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

UPDATE: OSHA investigation nearing the end?

l3wis 2Comments

UPDATE: Even though there was 28 citiations worth $100k handed over to Hultgren, it seems Legacy is probably off the hook due to being a LLC. It doesn’t mean there still couldn’t be civil suits against Legacy or even the city for that matter (for having knowledge of what was going on). Either way, IMO, the city should not allow Legacy anywhere near a public partnership with the city. Just by showing bad judgment in allowing such an unsafe construction company to work on it’s projects (several of them) tells me we need to send Legacy packing on the parking ramp and all future projects. We will see if the council has the cojones to see the same thing.

ELLIS & SNEVE from the ARGUS discuss the fines.

While this is under way (I heard there was about 50 subpoenas handed out) Stehly is fighting for the identity of investors of the DT parking ramp;

City Councilor Theresa Stehly wants to know who stands to profit from a city-backed, mixed-use development in downtown Sioux Falls.

Yet the giant secrecy of MMM’s Iron Curtain exists;

It’s not the first time a city councilor has called for greater transparency in the city’s public-private partnerships. In 2014, then City Councilor Greg Jamison unsuccessfully pressed for an ordinancerequiring investor disclosure in developments that receive tax increment financing from the city.

Jamison’s request followed an Argus Leader Media investigation that revealed Mayor Mike Huether and his wife had invested in real estate deals that required city approval.

And what would make us think anything has changed since?

Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls

Is the OSHA investigation about to burst like a watermelon at a Gallagher show?

l3wis 9Comments

Make no mistake, the Bakery mishap happening today has very little to do with a bunch of young entreupeneurs playing patty cake together and more to do with some peeps in trouble with the Copper Lounge collapse;

Funding for The Bakery dried up after the collapse of the former Copper Lounge at the corner of W. 10th Street and Phillips Avenue in December, Hazard said. The collapse killed a construction worker.

Hultgren Construction was in charge of that building’s renovation. Aaron Hultgren, the company’s owner, was also involved in The Bakery, and had planned to buy out departed Bakery co-owner Brian Rand’s share of the business prior to the building collapse, Hazard said.

The building’s collapse will likely lead to a lot of legal fallout.

“There’s a lot that’s going to be at play in this case,” Bob Trzynka, a lawyer with the Cutler Law Firm, told the Argus Leader in December. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s investigation into the collapse is still an open case.

 

Trust me, I know I am not the only one hearing the rumors going around town over the past couple of weeks about the intensity of the Feds investigation. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open.

Below is the video of one of the Bakery founders explanation. I would also like to thank all my readers for making me about 50 cents a day clicking on the bait. LOL.

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