The City as LandLord....

[FOTD]

The city has no business in the free enterprise world of real estate. FOTD continues to take the position that government should stay focused on citizen safety and insuring efficiency in government.

Guess we are starting to see why she is not running for re election.

[cannon_fodder]

Come on FOTD, we are going to save TONS of mney by buying a $70,000,000 building and letting the old structure rot away.  TONS.  Not too mention people are lined up wanting to develop the old city hall into a prison, or hotel, or something.  And on top of that, we will free up tons of other city properties for development.

http://mobile.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx?articleID=20090826_11_A1_Tulsas936591&subjectID=local

Either that or we are spending an extra $1,000,000 a year for the privilege of having a new city hall, plus the bond payment on the new city hall, and maybe no one in their right mind wants to touch the old building.  And now that I think about it, I don't think any city properties have been freed for development and none are in the process of being developed or even have plans announced.  Yeah, maybe that sounds more like it. 

Additionally, strange that the building which hasn't been fully leased since it was opened still has empty space.  Who would have seen that coming?  I mean, other than everyone but the consulting firm paid to make stuff up.

What I can't figure out is how the consulting firm was off by as much as 50% on their cost estimates.  You'd think giving a firm a bonus for telling you what you want to hear would produce more accurate results than that.  Strange.

[FOTD]

Come on FOTD, we are going to save TONS of mney by buying a $70,000,000 building and letting the old structure rot away.  TONS.  Not too mention people are lined up wanting to develop the old city hall into a prison, or hotel, or something.  And on top of that, we will free up tons of other city properties for development.

http://mobile.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx?articleID=20090826_11_A1_Tulsas936591&subjectID=local

Either that or we are spending an extra $1,000,000 a year for the privilege of having a new city hall, plus the bond payment on the new city hall, and maybe no one in their right mind wants to touch the old building.  And now that I think about it, I don't think any city properties have been freed for development and none are in the process of being developed or even have plans announced.  Yeah, maybe that sounds more like it. 

Additionally, strange that the building which hasn't been fully leased since it was opened still has empty space.  Who would have seen that coming?  I mean, other than everyone but the consulting firm paid to make stuff up.

What I can't figure out is how the consulting firm was off by as much as 50% on their cost estimates.  You'd think giving a firm a bonus for telling you what you want to hear would produce more accurate results than that.  Strange.

Was not the consulting firm the broker too?

The old structure was rotting away just like the rest the city infrastructure due to pitiful public diswerks department management.

Differed maintenance planning by COT is pathetic. Why have not these properties been flipped to a developer yet?

[MDepr2007]

Would  $1 million a year fix the old city hall?

[MacGyver]

The city has no business in the free enterprise world of real estate. FOTD continues to take the position that government should stay focused on citizen safety and insuring efficiency in government.

You had me.  You had me right up to the point of "insuring efficiency in government."

As your first line states government and the efficiency of the free market are worlds apart.

And like CF said, who could have seen this coming.  Maybe we did but don't remember it because the new city hall ..."transformed our souls."

[patric]

Was not the consulting firm the broker too?

Himelfarb had obtained the building for Dollar-Thrifty to relocate, and when they changed their minds there was a friend willing to bail him out and take the big glass monster off his hands.

[shadows]

Must admit that CF is right on the mark but he left out the lobbing effect and the old City hall was leaking rainwater on shined shoes propped up on the desk.  Then also there was only one coffee shop where employee had to go down the 11 floors to get to it, making several trips a day.

Would believe that for someone to have a financial structure in place for reelection and withdrawing, this would be only the tip of the iceberg.  Like the Titanic it was full speed ahead.   I would assume there was a sea full of icebergs with maybe a Fed investigation with a hand full of red flags to stick on them. 



   

[FOTD]

The shadow knows....

Saw Himlefarb a few nights before he bailed to the east coast while eating next to his wife.
Contended the citizenry did not appreciate his efforts. Made me nauseous.

And for $5,000,000 city hall could have been refurbished in 2 years under a private contractor.

Let's not forget the possibility of luring jobs to downtown...

You don't think she'd run for an elected office again. And the idea of appointment to an Obama administrative role might prove to be sticky.

Back to the big house....only question is which one? She'll be a Floridian (again or still?) within 5 years.

You betcha.

[DowntownNow]

So Patric...you're saying Dollar-Thrifty (under Himelfarb) was contracted to purchase OTC from Leucadia National, but City of Tulsa stepped in to purchase when Dollar-Thrifty wanted out? 

Hmmmm the same Don Himelfarb who left Dollar-Thrifty in August 2006 for the Economic Development Director's position with Mayor Taylor's adminstration and immediately began pushing the OTC/COT deal? 

I'm curious who held the mortgage on OTC prior to the City's purchase using tax-exempt revenue bonds?  I'm also curious who purchased the revenue bonds from TPFA...anyone know where to get that information?

[YoungTulsan]

Makes the BOK handout look like chump change (allegedly, of course)

[DowntownNow]

In my above post I forgot to add the tidbit that Taylor was vice president and general counsel of Thrifty when it acquired Dollar Car Rental and moved its headquarters to Tulsa.  (Tulsa World - Econ. Dev. Hire is From Dollar-Thrifty 08/29/06)

By the way...anyone know why certain stories previously posted by the Tulsa World will sometimes show up with a 'modified' date sometimes years after the story first ran?  Always makes me wonder what was modified.

[cannon_fodder]

All conspiracies aside, the numbers never seemed to work for the new City Hall.  Even under the best assumptions it would only save the city money if we had the building near fully occupied with paying tenants and unloaded the now excess city property.   Now given that there is a blank plot of land across from the BOk Center, few if any people would reasonably expect a developer to buy Old City Hall, tear it down in close proximity to operating structures, redo the parking structure, and rebuild.  For that matter it was even doubtful that the city would give up the much less cumbersome land to developers.  And, of course, history was willing to show us that the Dirty Ice Cube had trouble filling up with tenants.

I grant that I was surprised by the operation expense overruns.  One would have thought realistic estimates from the previous owner(s) would have been readily available.  Certainly would have thought that things like "window cleaning" on a glass building would have been included in the estimates.  The estimates were apparently just horrible.   If you're off my 50%, a flat-out guess had a good shot of being as accurate.  Where do we go for our refund?

So here we are, with an Old City Hall that sits as it was.  Other property undeveloped.   And a building that isn't fully occupied.  Just as anyone who looked at the situation would have predicted.  Except, of course, the group paid to look at and approve the deal. 

Something is inherently wrong when a study is commissioned that rewards a particular outcome.  For $5 I'll tell you it was a bad idea, but for $10 I'll tell you it was a great one.

[Hoss]

In my above post I forgot to add the tidbit that Taylor was vice president and general counsel of Thrifty when it acquired Dollar Car Rental and moved its headquarters to Tulsa.  (Tulsa World - Econ. Dev. Hire is From Dollar-Thrifty 08/29/06)

By the way...anyone know why certain stories previously posted by the Tulsa World will sometimes show up with a 'modified' date sometimes years after the story first ran?  Always makes me wonder what was modified.

Black helicopters man....

Usually, in older stories, formatting needs to be changed due to website modifications (The World has gone through several)  and the webserver reads the date on the include file modification date.  It's usually not some vast conspiracy to hide the truth from anyone, but simply a formatting change.

It needs to work more like a blog (Wordpress) that can actually know when someone is modifying the word content, and not just the code content.  Can be tough to do.

[Wrinkle]

I'm really starting (actually confirming) to see that the entire Taylor term was designed only to accomplish certain things wanted by the business community.

Once done, they're hard, if not impossible to redact.

btw, remember the Cube was to SAVE us $10 Million, not just "break even". That's another $1 Million per year not being accomplished. Kind of doubles the failure.

[Wrinkle]

Appears I've erred, it's $15 Million SAVINGS over 10 years:

Tulsa World 2007-06-21

Mayor enlists e-mail support for plan

by: P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writer
6/21/2007


A council vote on whether to move city offices could come as early as next week.


Mayor Kathy Taylor is seeking public support to help her convince City Councilors to move City Hall.

The council is expected to vote on the proposal to move city offices into the One Technology Center next week.

"Please help me move Tulsa forward by contacting the City Councilors prior to this vote," she writes in an e-mail sent to constituents.

"It will definitely be a major step closer as we work together to make life better in Tulsa."

Taylor has sent out e-mails outlining the benefits of the move and encouraging citizens to contact councilors by e-mail or telephone. She includes the councilors' e-mail addresses and phone numbers.

She even includes a sample letter in which only the councilor's name needs to be added.

On Wednesday Taylor said she has been approached by many citizens in support of the move, saying they "believe it is the key that unlocks the development downtown," and I told them to contact the councilors because it was their decision.

Taylor said the citizens asked how to get the information, "so that is what I have provided."

Taylor and her Economic Development Director Don Himelfarb announced in March that the city had entered into a purchase-option agreement with Leucadia National Corp. to buy the 15-story glass building at 100 S. Cincinnati Ave.

If the move is approved, the city would spend no more than $67.1 million for the project to consolidate many city offices. That includes the building purchase price, which sources knowledgeable about the deal say is $52.25 million.

The remaining $14.85 million would fund relocation costs, security, consultant work and other capital costs related to the move. A recent study indicated the city would save $15 million over 10 years by the move.

The consolidation would move nearly 1,000 employees representing 14 city departments into One Technology Center, freeing six prime real estate sites that the city could sell and put back on the tax rolls, Himelfarb has said.

The current City Hall site -- close to the construction site for the BOK Arena and the city's Convention Center -- is being eyed for a convention hotel.

Taylor's e-mail states that the city "is facing a critical decision . . . and I am writing to ask for your support."

"Our current City Hall building has become both a liability and an opportunity. It is a liability in that we have identified approximately $24 million in deferred maintenance needs," she writes.

She writes that after 90 days of comprehensive financial and engineering analysis, it is clear that the purchase of One Tech Center is a sound business move for the city.

"We will clearly save millions of dollars for taxpayers by consolidating multiple antiquated operations into a modern and efficient building," she writes.