May 9, 2010
Commission Conduit Application for $50 Million Dollar Project Originated in Governor’s Office
Williams Explains Complexity of Entities Involved in Large Developments
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Cabell County Commissioner Scott Bias told Huntingtonnews.net Friday afternoon, May 7 that the proposed $50 million dollar Huntington development project came to the body through the West Virginia Port Authority. A member of the authority accompanied the principles of Thayer Group who asked the Cabell County Commission for approval to make recovery zone fund application.
Bias said that despite some skepticism they voted to approve the monetary application conduit. The decision --- including any vetting of the developers --- will fall in the hands of the Governor’s Office.
“The governor will make the decision on it,” Bias told HNN. “The pool of monies that the counties turned back in that they did not use, the governor and the state will decide which projects get funded and which ones do not get funded. The governor make the final decision and decide what project is doable and feasible. If there is a project that is more doable or more feasible that decision will rest with the state. We’re simply a conduit that the money would come through if it is a good project.”
In short, though, Bias did not disagree with an HNN comment that instead of touting the out-of-state and Marshall projects as completed, their description as “proposed” would have potentially been more appropriate.
Bias and council Finance Committee Chairman Steve Williams would not provide specific details of the proposal, except it would be within the Huntington city limits and beneficial to the city.
Williams, though he had not looked into the developers history, took a few minutes to explain by analogy, the assemblage and amalgamation of individuals and entities participating in large projects. His statement, though not meant to apply specifically to the Thayer projects in other cities could give insight into how the stalled projects in Lexington, Ky., Findlay, Ohio, and Fayetteville, N.C., might not present a full picture.
“Often you will have a single, local person who helps coordinate things and starts drawing people in from different groups,” Williams explained. “Developers have a tendency to take collectively the individuals hired by a developing group projects they have been a part of and they will say universally, these are specific projects we have done.”
Comparing the search for developers to the years working on the ‘superblock’ in Downtown Huntington, Williams added, “People would come in and say we have done these things.” As an example, one was a group from Baltimore, but “it was not that developing group that came in, it was the people who had been involved. Some were principles; some were not. You have to dig down deeper.”
His comparison would be that , for example, someone involved in a New York project likely would not “do exactly the same thing” in another development. “You don’t have the same players.”
Williams used, for example, that one of the initial developers of the Easton project in Columbus, Ohio, was California Governor (and former movie action hero) Arnold Schwarzenegger, yet his name may not be found on later published documents on the success of the shopping mall and adjacent development. Easton’s developers included Limited Brands, Georgetown Company and Steiner & Associates. Some individuals from Steiner were involved in the development of Pullman Square.
“Yet, I can assure you [Arnold Schwarzenegger] wasn’t part of Pullman Square,” Williams said.
Williams also stated that Governor Manchin's office has a hand in the proposed development.
Thus, Thayer principle Brad Burgess has more components in his resume, such as working for an educational unit of Koll Development Real Estate & Investment. (http://www.kdc.com). A 2004 story about their educational unit stated:
The group will be led by Brad Burgess, who previously headed up a Tampa development firm.
Koll has grown into one of the nation's largest development companies by focusing on office and industrial projects.It's currently working on two buildings totaling close to 900,000 square feet for Citigroup Inc. in Las Colinas, and recently put up an operations center for BankOne in Fort Worth, and a new corporate headquarters for Sally Beauty Co. in Denton.
...
Prior to joining Koll, Burgess led Tampa-based The Thayer Group, where he oversaw development of a mixed-use project that included a National Hockey League arena, convention center hotel, retail and office space, and a marina.
"The growth in school populations with increasing budget constraints provides an ever-growing market segment not currently served by a full-service company like KDC," he said.
Earlier, newspaper and corporate sources had resulted in a trail of proposals by the company, but the projects themselves did not materialize, due to factors ranging from voter rejection of the proposal to an inability to raise bond money in a tough financial market.
Based on intensive research through a newspaper and trade data bases HNN could not find information contradictory to the stalled proposal reports in other cities.
The bond money for which the developer made application 24 hours prior to deadline represented an accumulation of recovery act funds returned unused by counties in West Virginia. Since the money was not spent through individual county allocations, it returns to state decision makers.
One report now states that this will be a “second try,” which could suggest a Plan B attempt to generate public/private partnership funding for a project connected to the Heartland Corridor and/or intermodal facility originally proposed for Prichard. That $50 million dollar development project did not receive first round stimulus funding.
Incidentally, the Cabell/Wayne Port District has previously been considered for an Inland Container Port. This multimodal facility will be located in Prichard, West Virginia and is currently under study by the West Virginia Department of Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railroad, Nick Rahall Transportation Institute, Marshall University and Clemson University. This Inland Container Port would grant public access to both the International Markets of the Virginia Port Authority as well as, the Container Port of Columbus, Ohio.
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Commission Conduit Application for $50 Million Dollar Project Originated in Governor’s Office
Williams Explains Complexity of Entities Involved in Large Developments
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Cabell County Commissioner Scott Bias told Huntingtonnews.net Friday afternoon, May 7 that the proposed $50 million dollar Huntington development project came to the body through the West Virginia Port Authority. A member of the authority accompanied the principles of Thayer Group who asked the Cabell County Commission for approval to make recovery zone fund application.
Bias said that despite some skepticism they voted to approve the monetary application conduit. The decision --- including any vetting of the developers --- will fall in the hands of the Governor’s Office.
“The governor will make the decision on it,” Bias told HNN. “The pool of monies that the counties turned back in that they did not use, the governor and the state will decide which projects get funded and which ones do not get funded. The governor make the final decision and decide what project is doable and feasible. If there is a project that is more doable or more feasible that decision will rest with the state. We’re simply a conduit that the money would come through if it is a good project.”
In short, though, Bias did not disagree with an HNN comment that instead of touting the out-of-state and Marshall projects as completed, their description as “proposed” would have potentially been more appropriate.
Bias and council Finance Committee Chairman Steve Williams would not provide specific details of the proposal, except it would be within the Huntington city limits and beneficial to the city.
Williams, though he had not looked into the developers history, took a few minutes to explain by analogy, the assemblage and amalgamation of individuals and entities participating in large projects. His statement, though not meant to apply specifically to the Thayer projects in other cities could give insight into how the stalled projects in Lexington, Ky., Findlay, Ohio, and Fayetteville, N.C., might not present a full picture.
“Often you will have a single, local person who helps coordinate things and starts drawing people in from different groups,” Williams explained. “Developers have a tendency to take collectively the individuals hired by a developing group projects they have been a part of and they will say universally, these are specific projects we have done.”
Comparing the search for developers to the years working on the ‘superblock’ in Downtown Huntington, Williams added, “People would come in and say we have done these things.” As an example, one was a group from Baltimore, but “it was not that developing group that came in, it was the people who had been involved. Some were principles; some were not. You have to dig down deeper.”
His comparison would be that , for example, someone involved in a New York project likely would not “do exactly the same thing” in another development. “You don’t have the same players.”
Williams used, for example, that one of the initial developers of the Easton project in Columbus, Ohio, was California Governor (and former movie action hero) Arnold Schwarzenegger, yet his name may not be found on later published documents on the success of the shopping mall and adjacent development. Easton’s developers included Limited Brands, Georgetown Company and Steiner & Associates. Some individuals from Steiner were involved in the development of Pullman Square.
“Yet, I can assure you [Arnold Schwarzenegger] wasn’t part of Pullman Square,” Williams said.
Williams also stated that Governor Manchin's office has a hand in the proposed development.
Thus, Thayer principle Brad Burgess has more components in his resume, such as working for an educational unit of Koll Development Real Estate & Investment. (http://www.kdc.com). A 2004 story about their educational unit stated:
The group will be led by Brad Burgess, who previously headed up a Tampa development firm.
Koll has grown into one of the nation's largest development companies by focusing on office and industrial projects.It's currently working on two buildings totaling close to 900,000 square feet for Citigroup Inc. in Las Colinas, and recently put up an operations center for BankOne in Fort Worth, and a new corporate headquarters for Sally Beauty Co. in Denton.
...
Prior to joining Koll, Burgess led Tampa-based The Thayer Group, where he oversaw development of a mixed-use project that included a National Hockey League arena, convention center hotel, retail and office space, and a marina.
"The growth in school populations with increasing budget constraints provides an ever-growing market segment not currently served by a full-service company like KDC," he said.
Earlier, newspaper and corporate sources had resulted in a trail of proposals by the company, but the projects themselves did not materialize, due to factors ranging from voter rejection of the proposal to an inability to raise bond money in a tough financial market.
Based on intensive research through a newspaper and trade data bases HNN could not find information contradictory to the stalled proposal reports in other cities.
The bond money for which the developer made application 24 hours prior to deadline represented an accumulation of recovery act funds returned unused by counties in West Virginia. Since the money was not spent through individual county allocations, it returns to state decision makers.
One report now states that this will be a “second try,” which could suggest a Plan B attempt to generate public/private partnership funding for a project connected to the Heartland Corridor and/or intermodal facility originally proposed for Prichard. That $50 million dollar development project did not receive first round stimulus funding.
Incidentally, the Cabell/Wayne Port District has previously been considered for an Inland Container Port. This multimodal facility will be located in Prichard, West Virginia and is currently under study by the West Virginia Department of Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railroad, Nick Rahall Transportation Institute, Marshall University and Clemson University. This Inland Container Port would grant public access to both the International Markets of the Virginia Port Authority as well as, the Container Port of Columbus, Ohio.
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Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
