Saturday, November 06, 2010

Standard Examiner: More Action at the Junktion!

The Junktion is going to get two - count em two - stores that are apparently going to trade in tools and "factory outlet" power drills, along with an un-needed new hotel!

By Ozboy

According to the Standard web site today that "self-admitted child molester Kevin Garn" who Weber County Forum wrote about below, is now going to be Godfrey's (and Ogden's) great savior in that he is graciously going to let the tax paying citizens of Ogden finance a new hotel that he will own - at the Junktion!
Officials: Hilton hotel to be built in downtown Ogden's Junction
Not only that, but the Junktion is going to get two - count em two - stores that are apparently going to trade in tools and "factory outlet" power drills!
Ogden's Junction lands two more stores
Most mega million dollar commercial developments in Utah get Nordstroms, Macys and other high end stores while Godfrey's high adventure hundred-million dollar folly in the heart of Ogden gets a factory outlet for power drills! High adventure power drills I am sure!

25 comments:

ozboy said...

Well Rudi,

My snarky comments not with standing, I do hope that the hotel and the two tool outlets do well in the heart of our dear Ogden.

It would be grand if these tool outlets worked in bringing tool affectionados from far and wide to experience the wonders of buying your factory outlet power drill and experience the thrill offered by a penny arcade all in the same trip to town! I suspect that the bigs at HomeDepot and Lowes are quaking in their boots at the visions of losing their tool sales to such a unique and cutting edge example of business visionaryism.

Heaven knows that the much put upon citizens of Ogden deserve something out of the Godfreyites that actually works and is successful! I mean for a hundred million bucks there ought to be something - any little scrap will do - that actually succeeds and pays for itself.

Hey, who knows, maybe the idea of a day glow bowling alley, penney arcade and gym flanked by two distressed tool sales stores will become the new American success model for business district anchor tenants!

Now if we could only convince the naysayers of Ogden that a giant multi million dollar icicle overlooking it all would be the frosting on the cake and the free bubble up we all crave!

David S said...

Can these new downtown stores beat Harbor Freight?

I doubt it. But I'm going to check them out. As a man, I like power tools, a lot. And by the way, I remembered why I stopped watching football. It's the stress!

Also, it is very important that residents review the development agreement the Godfrey has made with Kevin Garn. We know that Godfrey's agreements often contain glaring problems and giveaways.

The document is here:

Click Here

I plan to read it too.

The city council is good enough to publish these for us. We should help by reviewing and commenting to them.

Reader said...

There's this:

The thing is chock full of grants of various kinds, that the city will help the motel apply for. Then, the taxes from the project will go to the development, with 5% of the taxes reserved for city bureaucrats.

So grants will build the thing, and the taxes that come from it will go to the project, to benefit Kevin Garn (with 5% saved for city bureaucrats.) Of course, Garn will get the profits, if there are any.

Garn takes little risk and gets all the upside if there is one.

What a crappy deal for the city this is.

So if I fix up my house, do I get a grant to pay for it, then get to keep the property taxes until 2026 (with 5% saved for city bureacrats?)

No? I guess that's why Garn is a millionaire, and I'm not.

what will it cost us said...

So he buys the property for $1.5m then gets tax incetives for $1.5M, then the RDA will own the parking garage for $3M (who puts up that money)in a recession. God I love politics.

you who said...

Wow! Not one but two tool outlets in the downtown mall. That’s not exactly what I thought the great downtown renaissance was going to be.

Maybe they can find an Ace Hardware and a Deseret Industries outlet also. It sounds like a white trash development, with all the arcades, Vegas lights, and now two tool outlets.

Way to go Matt, you are now a bigger failure than I ever thought you could be.
What the hell ever happened to the boutiques, and up-scale shops?

Huh? said...

I think I understand how TIF financing works after the property is improved, but how dows it come into play before and during construction. Is the TIF already in place, and can be used like a short term construction bank loan, or does the money become available only after all improvments have been made?

How does Garn take "no risk? in this project? Even with TIF paying back the costs, wouldn't a Hilton Hotel, or something akin to that, bring more money into the treasurers office than the junk that's there now?

You people have me confused and maybe somebody could help to clear it up for me--and maybe some others.

Trash said...

You who you miss the point, as long as it's white trash and not brown trash everythings okay.

Inquiring mind said...

Nobody has asked the obvious question:

WILL THE HOTEL HAVE HOT TUBS???

Kevin's fan said...

All of Kevin Garn's hotels have hot tubs. They play an important part in his life!

free money said...

Huh

The TIF bonds are issued at the beginning of the project, the developer gets the funds in front. The bonds are then paid back to the bond holders by the county using the property tax money that is based on the new taxable value minus the old taxable value. In other words, the developer gets free money that will be paid back essentially by all the tax payers. It would be like you buying an empty lot, building a house on it and then paying your mortgage with the money that would normally go to pay your property tax. Nice deal if you are a friend of Matt's!

Anonymous said...

Kevin S - Give credit where it's due. The public document you are accessing with such ease (versus getting out of your slippers and getting a paper copy from city hall) is possible because the administration asked for that feature on the new website. The council had nothing to do with it, nor do they manage any documents on the website. Its the administration's staff that takes the time to upload documents all day long and make sure we can all easily read whats going on at city hall.

Take a look around at other city's websites and tell me you can get the same level of service.

Give credit where its due, in this case the administration, not where it's convenient for your argument.

K.M.RAJ said...

Its nice to read.

Dan Schroeder said...

After a very cursory reading of the hotel agreement, here's my impression of the worst-case scenario:

City gives property to Garn in exchange for IOU for $1.5 million. Garn gets bank loan for construction cost. Construction begins but us never finished. Bank takes property, city never gets paid for property.

Meanwhile, city restructures existing Junction TIF bonds so it can issue new ones, paying a six-figure one-time finance fee out of BDO revenue. City also pledges general fund (franchise tax) revenue as collateral on the new $1.5 million TIF bonds, and ends up paying them off from this revenue because the hotel is never finished.

And of course, the federal grant for the other $1.5 million never comes through, so that also ends up coming from the general fund.

Total cost to taxpayers: about $5 million.

I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong about any of this. But please don't bore us with the usual protests that it's merely unlikely.

Unknown said...

Ogden has a good neighbor policy that tries to prevent landlords from renting to pedophiles, but helps a self-confessed one buy a hotel.

Nice

Trixie Vixin said...

Kevin Garn is not a pedophile. He is an adulterer, a letch, and a liar.

There was grass on the field, it was time to play ball.

Another inquiring mind said...

Even more important to know:

Will the hot tubs at the hotel come with 15-year-old girls???

OneWhoKnows said...

Ogden already has three empty hotels, but now we need another to fill the vacant spot left at the Junction? Don't we already have enough vacancies? Sounds to me Godfrey is just trying to fill his block up with more fantasy and illusions. Now bring into the equation of success, the developer / owner, Kevin Garn. We all know about this guy and his moral fiber, so let's give him money to come to Ogden and save us. I believe if you or I did things like the "G" Boys, we would be in prison with Mr. Southwick, but if you're a member in good standing with the local religious cult and an elected offical, one does not have to be accountable. I only hope that others will stand up and voice their opinions as to the illegal actions of the Ogden administration and impeach this crook before he resigns. It's your taxpayer money that he's stealing from you again and again.

Dan Schroeder said...

Under Utah law, mayors cannot be impeached.

Bob Becker said...

Wow. I go out of town for a few days, and all hell breaks loose.

One thing seems clear now: the Mayor now understands that the original design and concept for making The Junction development work is dead as a doornail. That concept involved putting a couple of hundred high-end income condo dwellers at the Junction to shop at the specialty stores that were to fill the storefront spaces along Keisel, as well of course as people shopping during lunch and after work from the office blocks and towers.

That concept died when the Earnshaw building was never completed and Mr. Reid pulled the plug on his grand Aztec pyramid of a condo project, and the River Project went moribund. And when all that office space went un-leased [meaning of course no boutique lunchtime or after work shoppers].

The new businesses --- tool outlet stores and sporting goods discounters -- make it very plain, I think, that Hizzonah has realized that the initial vision and design has failed, and a new business plan for the Junction needs to be developed fast. Looks like a kind of informal Outlet Mall concept is the new yellow brick road. [Do we all remember how Hizzonah and his minions jeered at some in Ogden who suggested that a downtown Outlet Mall might be a good idea for Ogden instead of Hizzonah's more grandiose plans which at their most manic involved Paris Hilton and entourage browsing a Prada store at the downtown gondola base. Or something.]

Credit where credit is due: Hizzonah has recognized that his original plan for the Junction's success has fizzled and a new plan is needed. Whether this one --- Ogden Outlet Mall at The Junction --- will succeed I do not know. I certainly hope it does, big time. We'll have to wait and see. But the old concept is kaput.

As for the Hilton: I recall Ogden convinced a local investor that Ogden needed and could support another luxury hotel downtown. He invested a fortune in bringing a Crowne Plaza property downtown as the convention center's hotel. It did good business during the olys, then tanked. I heard it cost Ogden's investor something in 7 figures in the end in losses. Not to mention damn near sinking the Ben Lomond too. [Maybe it did. I don't know what shape the Ben Lomond is in these days or what market it's trying to tap among travelers. I thought it made a mistake when it separated from its chain affiliation. It has a market perhaps as an Historic Inn, and should probably affiliate with Historic Inns of America. Lots of people look for them when travelling, and prefer historic inns to cookie-cutter business hotels. But the Ben Lomond's problems are another story.]

Is there anything, any market study, to suggest that Ogden needs and can support, along with the upscale Marriott, the mid-range Hampton Inn and Suites, and the I'm-not-sure-what Ben Lomond, a downtown Hilton? There would, seems to me, have to be a huge bump in convention business to make it fly. I know that limited within walking distance rooms have made it difficult to book some mid-size meetings. But still....

As always, we'll have to see. On this one, given Ogden's history courting up scale downtown hotel business, I'm skeptical.

blackrulon said...

Will the new hotel be marketed as a high adventure Hilton (with searchlights)?

Bee in my Bonnet said...

Essentially a 3-story Hilton, with shops on the main/street level ... financed with bonding and tax increment, promissory notes ... I think I read that first payment not due from Garn until 5 or 7 years from date of completed agreement ...

yikes, the mayor is at it again. It also said the already signed agreement is "contingent on approval from the rest of the RDA" -- um if they don't approve it, will the Mayor (or ahem: Executive Director) stomp his feet and say "I'm doing it anyway!!!" ... ?

Bob Becker said...

Bee:

More commercial space storefronts at the Junction? More?

who knows? said...

Not knowing much about this issue, why aren't retail shops moving into these empty spaces. Retail stores that aren't in the newgate but in Layton Hills or Gateway?

Are the leases to high? Do they really not believe their stores will be visited from anyone in Weber or Box Elder counties?

City officials should be doing whatever is needed to resurrect this monstrosity known as the Junction, and bring viable retail shops in. It's to late to reverse course.

be happy said...

Why would you like to have another Nordstrom? The BIG difference of Ogden City to the rest of all american cities is, that there is NO NORDSTROM, NO MACY's and NO DUNKIN DONUTS and no other major chain. Which otehr city has a climbing gym, Tona (world class Sushi), a real micro brew and live bands playing? Be happy with the development, at least there is any!

Oogle boy said...

Time waits for no one....even you, Curmudgeon. But today's headlines are worthy of some articles and comments. Where are they? Maybe the 43 in the 1st thread? I'll read those then post.

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