Old Capital Green developer Full Spectrum asked the Hinds County Board of Supervisors for a $17 million loan to build a parking garage for the project. Full Spectrum President Malcolm Sheppard said construction will begin in August. However, the company still has not provided requested financial statements, tax returns, and commitment letters from tenants to the county. Blake Wallace, the Executive Director of the Hinds County Department of Economic Development, told the Board of Supervisors yesterday he could not recommend lending the money to Full Spectrum until he provided the required documents.
Old Capital Green is a mixed-use development that is supposed to be environmentally friendly. The Mississippi Development Authority provided $20 million in funds originating from bonds to Hinds County. Hinds County in turn has the authority to lend the money to Full Spectrum to build the parking garage. Its not just any parking garage either - 800 spaces with robots. No word on if they will be models using positronic brains.
Mr. Sheppard requested earlier $13 million from the county earlier this year but increased the request to $17 million yesterday. He said the Jackson Redevelopment Authority suggested Full Spectrum obtain the $4 million from Hinds County instead of borrowing it from JRA. Mr. Sheppard said JRA would then purchase the garage after the new market tax credit period expired. Mr. Sheppard said consolidating the two loans into one loan would be cheaper for his company. Supervisor Fisher asked what was the benefit to Hinds County as its loan exposure will increase by $4 million. Mr. Sheppard said the "window" with the state was closing as a letter had to be sent to MDA requesting the funds "this month". Mr. Sheppard asked the board to send the letter to MDA.
Mr. Wallace said Full Spectrum still had not provided any financial statements and other documents.* He said "we have not received any of the submittals we have requested from the developer and we need those to perform the financial analysis of the project." He said there had been "ample time" for the submission. He said he could not recommend the board move forward with the project until it received the financial statements.** Mr. Sheppard said several times the letter carried no liability to the county and he would provide the financial statements on Friday.
Mr. Fisher then pointed out the county requested financial statements from Full Spectrum over six months ago. He said he was worried all that would be built is a "parking garage for nowhere." Mr. Sheppard said he had provided "the information" to JRA and other agencies. Mr. Fisher said it still had not been provided to the county.
Supervisor Stokes finally jumped in and pointed out the garage was the only responsibility of Hinds County. He said bringing up "other things was clouding the issue." He said there was no development downtown while "we are steadily procrastinating". Mr. Fisher said it "looked like" JRA was getting out of the deal for seven years while Hinds County took the responsibility. Supervisor Robert Graham said the county never received any correspondence or "anything" from JRA or the city of Jackson about this project "making me feel good" about getting the loan only to have "the taxpayers 2 or 3 years from now". Mr. Wallace told Mr. Graham right now "I do not feel good about the project". He said the financial information was normally provided to the county at this point. He then said a review of the financial statements might require more financial information from Full Spectrum. He said he "recommended" the county not commit itself until Full Spectrum provided the information.
Stokes had enough and said "We need this to become a reality." He said "we are talking about a parking garage... not a whole development." He said "we need the money, we need a tax base" and "we need to stop killing projects and start bringing projects (yes, we are about to say it)". He continued "I've been here less than six months. Mr. Fisher then said "Byram-Clinton Corridor is a project." Mr. Stokes said that was "not a project but a dead-end". The board eventually decided to send a letter to MDA if Full Spectrum provided the financial statements (see below for list).
*Note: there is a 2 minute break between the videos as I changed batteries. Nothing substantial was said.
** Here is an email Blake Wallace sent to Malcolm Sheppard yesterday. Editorial comment: This is standard documentation requested by a lender.:
Malcolm,
Just wanted to remind you that we have not yet received the following documents regarding the Old Capitol Green project:
1.Commitment letters from other financing sources for the remainder of project financing.
2.Commitment letter from JRA/City of Jackson agreeing to guarantee repayment of loan.
3.Commitment letters from all retail and commercial tenants.
4.Waiting list for apartment rentals with contact information for each interested party.
5. Submittal of the following documentation:
a. Financials on all principals including last three years federal income tax returns.
b.Audited financials for Full Spectrum including last three years federal income tax returns.
c.Project pro forma in fully functional excel spreadsheet format.
After we receive and review these documents, we will request any additional documentation if needed.
We must receive the documentation soon if the timeline you have requested is to be met.
Best regards,
Blake
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Old Capital Green: Mo' money but no papers
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6 comments:
Gee, can't imagine why they haven't come up with the documents. Enough kick backs and somehow the sups will find a way to approve the "development". How many half-ass failed "developments" does it take to see downtown Bagdad is a black hole. Farris St? Another joke. Convention Center/ hotel another, etc, etc. Ben Allen? joke, too.
As a former Jacksonian I am just disgusted with these kind of deals. Does anyone have any common sense in our local government? When does it end? This company Full Spectrum sounds like they are full of #$%&. I would love to see this area of Jackson rebuilt-improved. I would also love for someone to give me a check for 17mm to build my vision of a parking garage that will sit empty.
Hey, we can use the garage to hold all the overflow parking from folks going to Farrish Street...oh wait...never mind..
Carlton Brown and Malcolm Sheppard are both so full of sh*t if makes MY stomach hurt. Here's an article from last September where they're pledging the first $2 million in "profit" from the parking garage to Jackson State. According to Brown (remember, this was last September)"The City of Jackson, through the Jackson Redevelopment Authority, has approved negotiations with Full Spectrum to provide public funding for the 888-car automated garage, Brown added.
Weird that as of last September they're telling the world that JRA has already agreed to provide the funding, but last week JRA tells the Supes they haven't even begun analyzing the deal because Full Spectrum hasn't delivered the basic information required.
Full.of.sh*t.
http://jacksonstate.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/2-million-dollar-pledge-leads-to-green-training-opportunities-for-jsu-students/
4pm said:
" Does anyone have any common sense in our local government? When does it end ? "
Where've ya been 4pm.
Common sense in Jackson/Hinds County died about 20 years ago.
It ended during the Ditto admin. ( When the tax payers began the great migration to Madison & Rankin) .
Mental Retardation Theology overtook common sense years ago.
Harbor Walk = New Boat Slips
Old Capitol Green = New Parking Garage
Does anyone see a pattern emerging?
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