By What Will It Cost Us
Well, two interesting items today in the Standard-Examiner.
1) The mayor wants $1M to clean up property in the area of 12th and Wall Avenue, since the developer can't afford to undertake the cleanup:
OGDEN — The city council is leaning toward temporarily reallocating $1 million in capital improvement funds to spark massive retail development downtown.Excuse me... but in this economy can't they look around and see developers can't get the money to build these dreams? With Wal-Mart close how can another market survive?
The CIP funds would be used to finance the clean-up of contaminated soil at a 13-acre site at the corner of 12th Street and Wall Avenue that is targeted for the construction of a grocery store and half a dozen or so retail businesses.
The city council may decide Nov. 25 whether to appropriate CIP funds earmarked for several sidewalk, street and Centennial Trail improvement projects to remediate the shopping center property.
The shopping center has been tentatively named 12th and Wall Marketplace, Tom Christopulos, the city’s business development manager said during the council work session.
The shopping center could spur retail and commercial development on two other parcels encompassing more than 40 acres and extending south along Wall Avenue to 17th Street and west from 12th Street to Gibson Avenue, Christopulos said.
“I hope it will be the catalyst to large scale development,” he said.
Mayor Matthew Godfrey said Thursday night the shopping center fits in with the administration’s goal of transforming the 12th Street and Wall Avenue corridor into a major retail hub.
“One objective has been to make that corner a power center,” he said.
2) Another indoor rock climbing facility, ostensibly with private money... at least the article doesn't mention taxpayer money yet:
OGDEN — A Salt Lake City businessman says support is rising for a state-of-the-art climbing gym scheduled to open in the next few months at the AmeriCan Center.How will Irock take the news, since they were whining when Weber Rocks at the college opened up? Or has some of the city's economic development money already been hidden in the building, or the parking garage?
Dustin Buckthal said Thursday he has already sold 180 memberships to The Front-Ogden, which will be located in the center’s Building A at the southeast corner of 20th Street and Lincoln Avenue.
“People are excited for The Front to open in Ogden,” said Buckthal, who operates a similar climbing gym in Salt Lake City.
The Front will be the third indoor-climbing facility in Ogden. Others include the iRock climbing wall in the Salomon Center downtown and Weber Rocks at Weber State University’s Wilderness Recreation Center.
The Front may provide competition to Weber Rocks but will ultimately benefit local climbers by offering a place where they can congregate and flexible operating hours, said Tim Nguyen, assistant director of the WSU Wilderness Recreation Center.
12 comments:
Bloody hell.. It's like a 3-ring circus right here in the ghetto! With the amazing midget man throwing a baton!
"...offering a place where they can congregate and flexible operating hours."
Shall we take this to mean the new The Front-Ogden will be open on Sundays?
Oh my. What a novel concept.
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US retail sales worst in decades; holiday view cut
A couple of quick thoughts on the first item:
1. I believe the usual term for this type of "shopping center" is actually strip mall.
2. Since when does downtown reach all the way to 12th Street?
Dan, you're so mean to the lying little mayor, and the answer to your question is, when ever he's desperate to sell another stupid idea to the Council.
OK, now how will the $1M investment be re-couped? The $10M tax revenue in 10 years estimate comes from the same administration that said the Junction would pay for itself, and we bail out the bond payment to $1.5M a year. And again a mystery grocery store that they can't name. When will the council actually due their jobs that they were elected to do and be pit bulls for the citizens of Ogden.
Yet the administration stops a developer that actually has the money to re-hab the old IGA store. Except that "G" train has her business across the street so she is against any development that the inner city needs, unless it is elite high adventure.
HEY - didn't the mayor just get done saying the city would have to cut back on spending because residents are going to cut down on their SHOPPING? What is he, a moron? He wants to spend money we don't have so people will have more places to NOT shop.
sheesh
The ever lovely Jennifer
Oh, yeah - and if I can afford it - I will buy a membership to the NEW rock climbing facility.
I dont want to pay exhorbitant prices for a five minute up and down, with someone else holding the rope. And I don't want to spend the gas money to drive all the way up to the university!
Sorry - guys.
The every lovely (and hi adventurer type) Jennifer
The Ever Lovely J:
Be patient. Once the million is approved, Hizzonah will reveal his plans for a gondola to speed shoppers from 12th and Wall to the Junction for a little lunch and light wall climbing between purchases. To naysayers, he will point out that we can't afford not to link the new strip mall to the Junction by gondola, since we've already sunk a million plus into the former, and much more than that into the latter.
Wait for it....
Why not have the owner (Gary Baur) pay the million bucks. He bought the property around 15 years ago for 250k, and reportedly sold it recently for around 4 million. He's profited from renting it out and depreciating it for all those years.
Let him eat some of it. He knew of the problems when he bought it.
Curm
ROTFLMAO
TLJ
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