CentrePointe update: Timing is everything.
Today’s meeting of the Courthouse Area Design Review Board offered a few updates on CentrePointe, the massive downtown development project that 16 months after its announcement remains a mirage.
Darby Turner, the attorney for developer Dudley Webb, said Webb is in Europe working to secure financing for the $250 million project from the estate of a mysterious, unidentified investor who is said to have died last fall, leaving the hotel-condo-office tower in limbo.
“We hope to have that (financing) in 30-to-60 days,” Turner said. But he quickly acknowledged, “We’ve been saying that, frankly, for some period of time, but all in good faith.”
The three review board members present seemed understandably skeptical. A year ago, they accepted Webb’s argument that he needed quick permission to demolish a dozen buildings on the block, including one dating to 1826, because his development was too important to delay.
Turner said today that once financing is secured, excavation work could begin within a month. Digging down three stories for an underground parking garage will take about three months. Then, foundations must be built before the proposed 35-story tower can begin rising from the ground.
The big issue, of course, is financing. The global economic meltdown has stopped similar projects worldwide dead in their tracks. The demand for big four-star convention hotels and luxury condos just isn’t what it used to be.
Because CentrePointe sits inside the historic overlay district of the old Fayette County Courthouse (now the Lexington History Museum), the review board had to give permission for the old buildings to be demolished and CentrePointe to be built.
The board gave that one-year permit last November. The permit won’t expire until November, but Turner was appearing to ask for a one-year extension. Now.
The board was confused. Why would Webb want an extension that would expire in July 2010 rather than asking in the fall and getting one that wouldn’t expire until November 2010?
Turner said having more lead time would “give assurance to our investor that this project is still doable in Lexington.” He also said he wanted to avoid someone trying to challenge an extension in the fall.
What Turner didn’t say — but several people were thinking — was that it also would move the next renewal request, if there is one, to July 2010 instead of November 2010, when the mayor and Urban County Council members must stand for re-election. CentrePointe’s public credibility isn’t what it used to be.
Asked about that after the meeting, Turner said politics had nothing to do with his request.
Review board Chairman Mike Meuser, a lawyer, wanted to delay action on Turner’s request until the board’s next regular meeting in October. But a staff attorney told him that wasn’t allowed under city ordinance.
“It just doesn’t make any sense to me, either for the applicant or the community or the board to reauthorize these permits now,” Meuser said.
Still, the board ended up approving the extension request. Legally, it seemed to have no other choice.
In other news, Turner said J.W. Marriott, which Webb says plans to put a luxury hotel in CentrePointe, wanted interior design changes that will require some architectural revisions, such as moving elevators.
But Turner said the exterior design hasn’t been changed. I guess that means it still looks like some of those developments I saw going up around Atlanta in the 1980s.
While the review board was meeting at city hall, a bulldozer was rumbling around the CentrePointe site, three blocks west on Main Street. It was spreading fill dirt recently brought in so grass can be planted.
Despite the latest “30 or 60 days” estimate, I’m not holding my breath. CentrePointe may defy the global economic odds. Construction may really begin in a few months.
But I think a better bet might be on who will get next summer’s mowing contract for the empty block in the center of Lexington.
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July 8th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
So frustrating it hurts to even think about it. What a waste.
July 8th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
this whole thing has been a disaster and is a huge mistake.
July 8th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
What a mess! Webb should be exiled from Lexington. The dirt pit he helped create looked so nice on July 4th and will look even better when the world is here next year. Thanks, DUDley. When the FEI games are here, you’ll get to see a lot of horses’ behinds–maybe you’ll feel at home.
July 8th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Are you kiddin’ me? Now he’s in Europe working on financing?
July 8th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
We should use eminent domain to take the CentrePointe property from these idiots and we should build a multimodal transportation and cultural hub for downtown Lexington, complete with a train station and mid-sized music venue. The Webbs (and Joe Rosenberg) should be punished for what they have done to our town.
July 8th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
The block had no goo asethetics left anyway before demolition. This is no doubt a setback for the community, but it will take care of itself and they are to be commended for the risk taken. Few people actually know how much they have invested which is considerable and if they weren’t basically extorted by the old individual owners who sold them the property, the property would have many more options from and investment / return standpoint. The last thing we need to do is have the city take this block. Our leaders are way too inept to take on a project of this magnitude, especially without taxing us to death even more. They need to work on paying fire fighters and police more and lowering the ridiculously high tax rate for our size town….then maybe property, income, water, electric, cable bills and any other thing they can get they’re hands on won’t continue to rise over and over again.
July 8th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
For the love of god people, GROW UP! ‘Boo-hoo-hoo, they fooled us. They promised something they didn’t deliver, boo-hoo-hoo….’ That is what every one of you crybabies sound like.
I’ve never in my life seen so much belly-aching, complaining, and crying over a parcel of land in my life. It’s dirt people. Bound by concrete and pavement. Almost anything is better than what was there before. Whether it be the Webb’s or someone else, that piece of property is going to be developed. And I’d say, no matter who, unless it’s VM Gray, you all will continue to carry on. So, my advice: Get over yourselves. Life goes on! There are bigger and better things to work for and towards.
July 8th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Ahh, a train station for the CentrePointe block. Now that’s a great idea for the very center of town. We will fly the railcars in by helicopter and unload the passengers onto the small boats plying the submerged Town Branch. The freight can be transloaded either directly to the downtown businesses or onto trucks for delivery elsewhere. Buses will arrive from both Main and Vine streets by dodging the bicyclists and pedestrians and avoiding the various trucks and boats.
The best part of it is that there will be no public dollars spent, as we will all gladly use this facility for our every transportation need.
July 9th, 2009 at 7:59 am
lexington_steetsweeper and boo-hoo-hoo, I could not have said it any better. Tom Eblen is a waste in a newspaper that is in a very slow decline because it has never been able to offer balanced reporting.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:41 am
I believe this article is balanced reporting, wishing well is lost in the woods. As for the Lexington ground zero dirt hole, as Tom has pointed out, the global market will determine if Centre Pointe will be built. The mysterious $250 Million may not ever appear because the return on investment with this project is something like fifty to one hundred years. DO THE MATH PEOPLE. COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS ANYONE ??
July 9th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
actually by the time this gets built. if it gets built, the country should be coming out of recession into recovery so the timing delay may actually help make this a successful development
July 9th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I think the Herald Leader has done an excellent job recently, calling for accountability among community leaders.
Tom’s continuous coverage of the Centrepoint development helps keep sunlight on an otherwise shady deal.
July 9th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
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