The Shoreline Committee of the Pearl River Valley Water & Supply District voted Tuesday to give John Burwell an extension on his leases at Main Harbor.
The Clarion-Ledger reported:
"In a unanimous approval from members of the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District, the governing body for Reservoir lands, the planned retail and hotel development off Harbor Drive has more time now to meet requirements set forth in its initial agreement with the district..."
Additionally, Burwell agreed to the terms of the one-year extension, saying he would pay the extension fee of $55,400 on top of his yearly $592,000.lease payment for the property.
At issue were requirements that a hotel would be in the development stages by this year, as well as a set number of properties rented to retail businesses and restaurants."
Mr. Burwell then took a shot at certain websites (Watch the video as he gets a little bit testy.):
"Harbor Walk developer, John Burwell lamented to the district’s Shoreline Development and Environmental Quality Committee about the misinformation he said has been circulating on the Internet about the project."
I think we all know who he meant by that quote. Since the committee did not open the floor for comments from the audience, I will respond in this forum. This website has not published any "misinformation". If anything, it is Mr. Burwell who is always changing his story. Don't take my word for it, read all the news stories containing his statements from the last few years posted below. Neither Mr. Burwell or his attorney have ever contacted me to correct or point out any of the so-called misinformation and trust me, if I were slandering them they would be very quick to pull the trigger in that regard. What Mr. Burwell apparently does not like is this correspondent also has an opinion and expressing that opinion is spreading misinformation. Well, allow me to spell it out for Mr. Burwell since he yet again doesn't quite get his story right.
The Reservoir should be the crown jewel of the Jackson metro area. John Burwell came along more than eight years ago with grandiose plans to develop Main Harbor. Five-star hotels. Condos. Restaurants. Water taxis. A true Ridgeland or Redneck Riviera, depending on your point of view. Keep in mind this was back in 2003, before any credit crunch. The problem was his plans called for financing of nine figures. Yup, $100 million, $200 million, $500 million depending on which news story you were reading. Mr. Burwell would say he had financing and then it would never materialize. He told the media once they were going to start construction on Harborwalk as he had finally obtained financing only to admit later in the story the loan had not actually closed.
Mr. Burwell is not broke nor is he out of money. However, it is my opinion he does not have the money to get this project off of the ground nor will he be able to obtain the financing needed to bring his plans to reality. I don't think Mr. Burwell is a scam artist. What I do think is Mr. Burwell is a developer who is in over his head and unable to develop Main Harbor. This may be news to Mr. Burwell, but I am allowed to have an opinion and stating an opinion is not spreading "misinformation".
The District is in a pickle. The board members don't want strip malls but they don't like the status quo either. Mr. Burwell has not missed a payment and does have a cash flow generated by slip rentals. Mr. Burwell and several committee members stated there were no other proposals from other developers to "do anything" with Main Harbor. Now that is where the rub is.
Commercial developers just don't show up to bid on a project. A developer would spend at least fifty to one hundred thousand dollars for a study on developing Main Harbor. There is no way a developer is going to spend that kind of money when the District does not make it aware they will consider other proposals. Thus the board is in a catch-22: it needs Burwell's cash flow but also wants the property properly developed. The District should take a long look at making it known it will consider other proposals at least several months before the extension expires so interested developers will have time to offer alternate proposals. Perhaps David Watkins could work out a deal where Jackson annexes the Reservoir and the Legislature gives him some super-duper retroactive to 1800 tax credits that would allow him to develop Main Harbor and lease it back to Jackson. Better yet, the state can eminent domain the property and build Ed Morgan's Taj Mahal right there in Main Harbor. Revenooers on the Reservoir. Has a nice ring to it. Heck, if state money is involved, Joe Waggoner and Carl Ray Furr will study the site to death as they generate invoice after invoice. I just knew the Reservoir was an untapped gold mine.
All kidding aside, it might be time for the District to open things back up to other developers so it can find a way out of this impasse. This project has literally been dead in the water for eight years. While Mr. Burwell has built new docks and wants to develop Main Harbor, it is time to ask what indeed is best for the Reservoir area and what can be done to get the development of Main Harbor back on track. It doesn't matter who develops Main Harbor but instead that it is indeed developed.
Earlier posts
Uh-oh, Bumblin' Burwell is back
Harborwalk: Hoax or folly?
Harborwalk Update September 2010
Is there a Harborwalk?
Harborwalk: Here we go again.
Today is the day
19 comments:
I guess this will shut all the Burwell hater's up, until next year.
I did find the comment, "absent any other options" interesting. Are there? The hollow threat of strip malls is kinda funny too.
this is absolutely fucking re"dirk"ulous. can no one come up with a better use for that land than let it sit in shambles. I got i good idea instead of destroying everything on the land before you do nothing with the land, lease it to the current tenants and produce some money till you decide to fuck everything up. *** the strong language you see above is a must to get a point across. (before i get slaughtered by the worried parents out there whose kids read this)
The only thing that will shut the so-called "Burwell haters" up is if he actually builds what he claimed he would/could. Don't see that happening. At least not in this dimension.
Nice editorial. I agree that Burwell at this point is spending a great deal of energy, resources, money to maintain a B/E situation at best. I also agree, it appears he is over his head as financing is clearly not available for this "grandiose" plan.
Not even sure how many developers are interested or invested in MS to the degree Burwell is.
This is quite a pickle.
Can somebody clue me in about mr.bur well. How does he have the cash flow to throw away that much money. Did he hit it big on previous developments. I just don't know much about him.
Harborwalk is DONE its not going to be nothing than what you see now, in others words like Lost Rabbit. I feel sorry for the "investor" he has that is just pissing in the wind (not really). I got an idea Why doesn't Burwell take his Destin,FL wanna be ass there and fuck off with Fraziers?
'i may be stupid...'
no kidding--
One minute he is begging to hand over a 600k check and the next he his asking the PRVWS committee if they know of anyone wanting to invest with him. I think they are all stupid!
I had the "pleasure" of doing business with Mr. Burwell in the past, and I can tell you from my experience, that he IS in over his head. I feel sorry for the one investor he has, Mr. Burwell is milking this for all he can line his pockets with.
If i had 28 million tied up in the project i would be throwing every line of bullshit out there too. Now to me it almost seems like it's a control issue he has with harborwalk and the public has him so pissed off that he is going to spend every last dime he has to prove everyone wrong, but deep down he knows he is in way over his head. Almost seems that the committee is a little intimidated by him also.
As one of the people paying outrageous rent on a boat slip to Mr. Burwell I wish the PRVW board would have put some stipulations on maintaining his lease. Burwell is currently holding back the entire area from being anything great. There is one mens toilet (inside the pelican) for the entire area to use. Forget a resort hotel, start with some bathrooms. He has not constructed anything that the tax paying citizens of the area can use to enjoy the lake.
Each dock is making him 10-20k per month in lease fees, I would say that is the least he could do.
Main Harbor is a complex conumdrum.
I pay Burwell about $500 a month rent plus sales tax of 7%.He probably takes in $50K per month slip rents.But it seems he has to pay something around that amount to PRVW.I don't think Burwell has ANY of his own $ invested. It is likely he gets a salary from Harbor Walk LLC and I bet he needs that income himself. He has a single entity investor from Texas who bought the lease from Buddy and paid the last of the note a couple of years ago. If these guys couldn't raise the money for the development in 2003-2006, they certainly can't now, but who else could or would? The new piers are very nice and the area has a "clear" look that is pleasant - a lot better than a one tenth finished mess in receivership. Why the Dock had to go is unknown to me. Burwell does enjoy being the boss but usually stays out of most people's hair. I truly do not think there is any market and/or funding for much else than what is here. Main Habor is spacious, beautiful, and very pleasant - maybe we should just enjoy.
Geez, if I want to support a candidate with a personal appearance, I could afford Hall, Dennis is another story.
According to the poll Burwell is not doing so hot in the public eye. Oh and Kaptain Dingaroo raise your head up and wipe your mouth off.
there are people right here in the jackson area who are capable of doing this project the way it's slated. the fact no one wants to get involved or invest in it obviously says something about the guy in charge. just maybe he needs to step aside.
to 5:17. you can not enjoy it due to trespassing. if you drive up to where the dock and all used to be you will be run off by RPD in seconds. what are they protecting?
Somebody send Burwell up to the ghost town known as Lost Rabbit and get him to spend some money up there, bailing them out. That was, is and will be for the foreseeable future, a sucker's dream!
I can't be negative about this. Atlanta has it's share of have finished sites. Point is it's goin gon all over the country. And the sites Like Main Harbor are quite good. It will happen in time. I remeber the glossy web site for Main and looked at it and thought ...looks like it landed from Macau. No way. Why couldn't it be scaled bac and be more like Sea Side or Water Colour outside of Montgomery. It looked foreign and out of place for "J". But what do I know....I'm just part of a hotel development team. If you get a chance go look at the Holiday Inn Resort in Pensacola. It is too cool. It is up on a web site I am sure.
Post a Comment