By ND
It looks like the County is onboard with the Berthana project:
• Ogden's Berthana may gain night clubIs Commissioner Bischoff singing a different tune now?
© 2005 - 2014 Weber County Forum™ -- All Rights Reserved
• Ogden's Berthana may gain night clubIs Commissioner Bischoff singing a different tune now?
© 2005 - 2014 Weber County Forum™ -- All Rights Reserved
18 comments:
A couple of thoughts:
1. Why are McConnell's partners' names a secret? When public tax dollars are subsidizing the renovation of a privately owned building, the public has a right to know who is benefiting from that subsidy. Keeping the names a secret also invites speculation that some of the "partners" may actually be local public officials.
2. What's the point of the skywalk? Why can't conference center patrons just walk across Kiesel Avenue like everyone else? If we want to make downtown Ogden feel crowded and safe, we need to get people out onto the sidewalks.
If the powers that be do go ahead with this boondoggle, they would be complete fools if they didn't tap Bill Glassman to run it. He is the only one in the whole Godfrey camp that I know of that has a proven history of putting butts in bar seats on a big and consistent basis.
Considering that they are in fact a bunch of complete fools, it is doubtful they will even consider it!
On the SE site it looks like the Sports Page peeps are going to run the bar,..yup...first class distinct club...
Right on Dan about the bridge to nowhere...funny still that no mention is made of the building between the Kiesel and Berthana, which ironically used to be at one time where the SE was located ...
As far as the why on the bridge...I would suspect that its to divert funds into the private owners construction costs...they want people on the street, yet are going to build a bridge...
Why is it always such a secret about who the interests are in these projects?
Parking for Copper Club patrons would be available along 25th Street, at The Junction complex, behind the Ogden Eccles Conference Center, at the Market Star Building at 2475 Washington Blvd., and on about an acre of property west of the Berthana Building owned by the Ogden Redevelopment Authority, said Tom Christopolus, the city's deputy director of community and economic development.
Correct me if I am wrong but there is not over an acre of RDA property to the west of the Berthana....the lot on the corne of Grant and 24th is about a quarter acre....does the RDA own the buildings along Grant or are they counting Grant itself?
Main listed owner on Weber Co. Parcel Search is:
CSPE005 LLC
whose listed agent is Michael D Roberts
Pricipals listed for CSPE005 LLC:
Cobalt Workout Partners LLC
ITI Ventures, LP
(both listed as managers) and
Michael D Roberts as agent (in Orem)
Cobalt Workout Ptrs LLC 320 South State St Orem, UT 84058; Mgr Michael D Roberts, P.C. (agent is same)
ITI Ventures, L.P. 3719 S Plaza Dr, Santa Ana, Ca 902704 (As named, this one is not listed in California business entity search)
On the sole question of the proposed skywalk: If [that's a conditional, folks, if the Convention Center is going to expand its meeting space with rooms in the Kiesel Building [which I gather is the proposal], then the skywalk seems justified to me. It won't work as a convention center if you have to keep crossing outside in all weathers to move between meeting rooms. It really won't.
And as for putting more people on the street, that's true enough for 25th Street and the most convenient street path between the Junction and the lower two blocks of 25th Street. But Kiesel just west of the Convention center is... well, more of an alley than a street. Dark, narrow, with dark parking garage one one side, one, maybe two small business [including a biker bar], and an office block wall, and a parking lot along the other. It's not going to be much of a part of a "walking downtown" that way, skywalk or no.
So, again, if the convention center expansion happens and it includes expanding into meeting space in the Kiesel Building, then the skywalk makes sense to me.
Crum...good points...though Kiesel was supposed to be this great link from the amphitheater to the Junction...
Just checked the Weber County files on this so called acre of parking to the west of the Berthana...there is .25 acres there...the rest is Century Investments 2641 Washington Blvd...."Froerer Family Investments..AKA Gage Froerer. Then there is HP Investments..mailing address next to Cutrubus...the plot thickens....
ND
"HP investments" as in perhaps Homer P. Cutrubus a charter member of the FOM free loader society.
Curm:
I've attended plenty of conferences on college and university campuses where we had to walk outdoors, in all weather, to get from one meeting room to another. Typically these walks have been much farther than the width of Kiesel Avenue. It wasn't a big deal.
And if Kiesel Avenue is narrow and dark and scary, then all the more reason why we should be encouraging pedestrians to go there. Let's fix the problem, not run away from it.
The last time Ogden attempted to shelter people from having to walk outside, the result was the Ogden City Mall: completely isolated from the rest of downtown and therefore a complete disaster for the surrounding properties (and ultimately for itself).
Ding ding ding car dude...and Froerer is prime real estate owner for the Field House...sigh....
I like Dan's thinking too...
How about some decent lighting and investment in Kiesel's atmosphere to really connect the dots to 25th street/amphitheater....do we really need another sky bridge like the one that went from the mall to ZCMI....that ruined the vista to Ben Lomond ...
The old outdoor downtown was a gem....interesting that Gateway and even the Junction promote street traffic and are not afraid of a little outdoor weather...why not this? I really wonder how much of the Kiesel Building will be for conference center as the Berthana is what they keep talking about...
That former sky bridge in down town Ogden ended up costing many millions to get rid of. The city lost more than five million alone when mayor Godfrey arbitrarily tore down a building that the city didn't own when they ripped out that sky bridge.
Anybody know this fellow:
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-166078548.html
An FOM?
According to a LinkedIn page, a Steven VanWagoner is a downtown realtor and member of the 25th Street Association.
Here's the whole article:
Developers buy Berthana building
Dan
The article is from three and a half years ago. In it the new owners were touting the same improvements that they are now. Have they done any of the modifications or improvements on the building in the intervening three and a half years? If not, does any one know why not? Was it the economy? Have they been waiting for public free money to do anything?
The Berthana was a very popular place in the 50's & 60's with a big roller rink upstairs and frequent dances that were always extremely well attended. It would be great if it were able to make a comeback to its former glory.
Now that I'm thinking about it, I remember that is also where I met my first ex-wife!
Apparently all they've done is take down the historic Berthana sign, and of course, wait for the City to kick out the Lighthouse folks...
The numbers being thrown around on the cost of renovations to this building are humorous at best...even back in the 07 article.
First they should fix the elevators, power, AC and heat in the Kiesel building. Then they need a proper index and to put things on the sign board that makes sense. Then they need to hire back someone that you can go to for property management. (It's an impersonal anonymous company called "CSPE005" that we all pay rent to right now.)
-Anonymous Kiesel building business owner
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