Shady Columbia Hotel Deal: Proceeds at Risk

If Kessler actually moves forward and fully accomplishes the construction of the four- star hotel that they have promised the City, then there is a fairly reasonable argument to be made that the sale of the property will generate a long-term return in the form of property taxes gained on the property, the jobs it creates, and the increased tourism to downtown for all the area businesses. But the problem is that – repeatedly- these types of ventures almost never get built in the manner promised and the City does not get what was promised; the deals are not drafted with “teeth” to provide a mechanism for the City to force them to fulfill their promises, or if they do, our leadership fails to exercise them. And the developers always come back asking for more concessions – tax breaks, requests for muni bonds (that taxpayers have to pay) to finance the infrastructure, or some zoning or environmental regulation variance or they knew about all along but never revealed their intentions, etc. The two most prominent examples of this are Canalside and the Bull Street development. But there are others.