Thursday Morning Ogden City News Roundup

A few recent news items, thrown out in the hope of getting a new discussion going this morning

Although we've been somewhat sidelined here at Weber County Forum by this week's tragic 1/4/11 Ogden Shootings story, we suppose it's time to get back into the regular "red meat news" swing of things, and resume our role as community watchdog for all things political, in and around Weber County. So here are a few recent news items, which we'll throw out in the hope of getting a new discussion going this morning:

1) Interesting article on the Standard-Examiner's business page this morning, reporting, that as a followup to Tuesday's RDA session, wherein the the Ogden City Council approved a parking lease agreement between the city and the successor developer of the Earnshaw Building Condo Project, we now learn that the subject parking lot will be turned over to the new developer, Steve Hopkins... get this... rent free.

We are not making this up, folks. Here's the key paragraph from this morning's S-E story:

While the city won’t be getting rent from the deal, Richard McConkie, the city’s community and economic development director, said the city figures that the property tax revenue generated by a completed building would increase the tax increment available to the city by as much as $200,000 annually through 2026.

Read the full S-E story here:

• Ogden leases garage space to condo

Well, at least the beleaguered Ogden City taxpayers will be getting something out of this "sweetheart" developer deal, right? It's a lot better for the taxpayers than Ogden's last couple of parking lot giveaway deals, no?

Seems that around Ogden City, the more things change, the more they remain the same, dunnit?

2) Here's something we received by email yesterday from another alert WCF reader:

MAYORAL FAVORS: Yesterday I heard a bunch of pissed off people talking about Kym and Pete taking over the welcome wagon. A gal that was running it was wondering why rent is half of what she'd been paying, and why do they get the equipment etc., for "free"?

The reference to the "welcome wagon" refers to last week's Wasatch Rambler column of course, wherein Charlie Trentelman reported that "Pete Buttschardt, owner of Rooster’s and Union Grill, is making extremely positive noises about taking [the Tourist Welcome Center's Choo-Choo's Cafe] over."

While Mr. and Mrs. Buttschard did make a small ($150) donation to Mike Caldwell's 2011 mayoral campaign, we're not ready yet to suggest that Mayor Caldwell would on that basis alone give them preferential treatment; although we'll nevertheless be keeping a close eye on this situation, of course, and would welcome any further detailed "insider" information that any of our Gentle Readers may be able to provide, regarding The Caldwell Administration's efforts to to enter into contract with a new cafe operator.

3) Here's the latest S-E Op-ed contribution from Alan Hall, wherein Ogden's own "Captain of Industry" discusses "how to grow our local economy" and "add more people to the area workforce":

• Careful and thoughtful cost cutting needed in down economy

After several earlier columns which were outright "snoozers," it's nice to see Mr. Hall finally launching into a topic where he has actual real-world expertise, we suppose.

4) And here's a thoughtful commentary from Weber County Democrat Steve Olson, who comments on the politically ridiculous Jon Greiner situation and also makes a strong and well-reasoned pitch to his "Republican friends" regarding the "need to respect the nation's conflict of interest laws, even if they disagree with them":

• Greiner forged ahead because he disagreed with law

As a lifelong registered Republican (full disclosure here) we'll give Mr. Olson a definite thumbs up on this one. And what say my fellow liberty loving fellow Republicans about this?

That's it for now, O Gentle Ones. We do have a couple of additional items remaining on the WCF back burner, but we'll save them for later this week.

Have at it, WCF readers. The world-wide webosphere is sitting on the edge of its seat, waiting to hear what you think.

A Second Reminder of Tonight's Various Ogden Council/RDA Sessions - Updated

Special thanks to professor Schroeder for devoting the extra time and effort to fleshing out some of the other topics which are on the Council/RDA table tonight

As a followup to Sunday's Weber County Forum writeup, which narrowly focused on the Godfrey administration's "stealth" proposal to "extend the Ogden River Project Redevelopment Area tax increment period through Tax Year 2027," we'll issue a second reminder of tonight's various Ogden City Council/RDA sessions, which include a variety of other interesting and important agenda items, as more particularly set forth by WCF reader/contributor Dan S. in Sunday's article comments section:

Just looked over all the agenda packets for tomorrow's meetings, and there's a lot in there.

The River Project materials indicate that the project's budget has been cut from the original estimate of $105 million down to a revised estimate of $85 million. The projected tax annual tax increment has correspondingly decreased. About 28% of the tax increment is being passed on to the taxing entities, so they're not losing out completely. The debt to other city funds stands at $3.7 million and it says the city will have to shell out at least another $2 million, with "similar, if not greater, levels of public assistance" for the Lincoln-to-Wall phase.

Also on the RDA agenda is an agreement with the new anonymous owner of the Earnshaw Building for use of additional parking spaces, allocation of some parking structure space for a chiller, and an "aerial easement" for a pedestrian walkway between the parking structure and the building. It mentions that the number of condos in the building is being increased from 28 to 40.

The City Council special meeting agenda includes the long-awaited rezone of most of the city's public parks to the "open space" zone. This will provide some additional protection against any mayor who tries to sell off park land, because the land couldn't be developed without another rezone by the council.

The Council work session agenda includes a meeting with Laura Lewis, their water rates consultant, to review the current water rates and the work that went into establishing those rates four years ago. This is the first step in the process of revising the rates to address several concerns that have come up in recent months.

For the convenience of those WCF readers who'd like to dig in even a little more deeply, we link all of tonight's Council/RDA packets below:

• 12/13 City Council-RDA Work Session
• 12/13 City Council Work Session
• 12/13 City Council Special Session
• 12/13 City Council-RDA Regular Session
• 12/13 RDA/Council Study Session

Special thanks to professor Schroeder for devoting the extra time and effort to fleshing out some of the other topics which are on the Council/RDA table tonight.

In accordance with our usual practice of course, we hereby dedicate this thread to any Ogden City political wonks who'd like to comment before, during or after tonight's meetings.

Update 12/14/11 7:15 a.m.: The Standard-Examiner reports this morning that the RDA Board last night scheduled the Godfrey administration's proposed Ogden River Redevelopment Project Area Extension for a January 17, 2012 "public hearing":

• Ogden RDA sets public hearing (Updated)

We'll also extend our additional thanks to Dan S. for providing last night's real time Council/RDA real-time meeting reports.

Standard-Examiner: Trustee Sale At Junction

We'll predict that this property will revert to First Community Bank's Real Estate Owned (REO) portfolio

Just as foreshadowed on 7/15/10, the Standard-Examiner reports that the Junction's Earnshaw Building goes on the auction block this afternoon on the courthouse front steps, a victim of the still-collapsing U.S. real estate bubble:

• Trustee sale at Junction

With depressed U.S. commercial real estate prices still levitating at recession lows, it's a bad time for any commercial real estate lender to be scheduling a foreclosure sale. Despite the lender's chirpy optimism that private parties will possibly show up to bid however, it's obvious that the current loan balance likely exceeds the value of the property, so we'll predict that this failing project will ultimately revert to First Community Bank's (FCB) Real Estate Owned (REO) portfolio.

In the event that FCB does "take back" this property, the scenario will not bode well for the early completion of the Earnshaw Project, inasmuch as FCB will no doubt opt to keep the property on its books and await a rebound in the commercial real estate market, rather than dispose of the property at a loss. Unless and until FCB is able to rid itself of this "underwater" REO liability, don't expect FCB to invest another dime of its own money in the Earnshaw property.

Update 9/28/10 8:45 a.m.: The Standard-Examiner carries the post-foreclosure story this morning, in which a "dejected" First Community Bank Senior Vice President Bob Parks reveals that he still doesn't recognise the reality that the Earnshaw Building financing had been over-leveraged by a factor of almost 100%. And this moron Parks is apparently still employed as an executive officer at a local bank. Scary:

• Lone bid received for 32 Earnshaw Building units

Developer In Default: Bank Has 'Solutions' To Finish Building In Ogden's Junction

A real confidence builder for building a hotel, parking structure, etc. with public backed loans

By Ray

According to the Standard Examiner this morning the Junction's Earnshaw Building is in default for its 6.2 million dollar loan:

• Developer in default: Bank has 'solutions' to finish building in Ogden's Junction

Hmm... thats a real confidence builder for building a hotel, parking structure, etc. with public backed loans.

Good News/Bad News From The Heart of Emerald City

We'll give you the good news first

By Curmudgeon

There's some good news [and some not so good news] for Ogden in this morning's Standard-Examiner on the business pages:

• 6,900-square-foot bookstore to anchor new six-story building

Deseret Book's new store at The Junction opens today. It fills 6900 sq. ft. on the ground level of the Earnshaw Building.

While I confess I had been hoping for a general purpose bookstore at the Junction --- an indie if possible [but that was unlikely] or a chain like Borders [not Barnes and Ignoble] --- rather than an LDS bookstore. But it's good for Ogden to have the space rented, and the property generating tax revenues.

The not so good news comes at the end of Mr. Schwebke's story. He reports that the second floor of the Earnshaw building has 7K sq. ft. plus of office space [no word on whether any of it is leased yet]. The ground floor still has just under 10K sq. ft. apparently still unleased. And, the story notes that the top four floors of the building "will have 28 condominiums." Ah, but when will it have those oft promised supposed to have been completed years ago condos to boost residential occupancy at The Junction [and so live-in customers for Junction and downtown business]? The building's owner was just a tad vague on that:

"Earnshaw said completion of the entire building will depend on how quickly the economy rebounds."

English translation: "When will the condos be done? How the hell should I know?"

That was the bad news. Still, the opening of Deseret Books today is a step in the right direction.

Vision Meets Reality

Sixteen Godfrey chickens that haven't exactly hatched

By Dan Schroeder

The Standard-Examiner recently published a commentary by Mayor Godfrey, bragging about some of his accomplishments and reminding us of his "high adventure" vision for Ogden's future. In response, I'd like to thank the mayor for giving me this opportunity to publish a little list that I've compiled.

When an elected official has been in office for nearly a decade, I think it's appropriate to judge his visions in light of his record. Mayor Godfrey's record has its bright spots, as he repeatedly reminds us. But to get the full picture, we need to look at what he actually promised once upon a time--and compare those promises to the current reality.

So I offer this modest list as an additional basis for community discussion. I don't claim that the list is complete, or that it fairly represents the mayor's full record. Nor do I mean to give the mayor all the credit for either the original promises or the difficulty in fulfilling them. (In many cases the news media played a significant role in puffing up our expectations.) Still, all of these projects are closely associated with the mayor's "vision" for Ogden, and the list is long enough to refute anyone's contention that these shortcomings are due merely to occasional bad luck, or to the recent economic downturn.

Here, then, are some of the facts that Mayor Godfrey's commentary didn't mention:

Project	Then...	Now...
River Project	"Construction on the ambitious river project, in the works since early 2001, should begin in 2005, with the recent approval of a developer's agreement between the Ogden Redevelopment Agency and Cottonwood Partners Management LTD." (January 16, 2004)	Except for the Bingham's building, there has been no new construction in this 60-acre area. The residential blocks have been virtually abandoned and plagued by a series of arsons.
Ernest Health	"Done deal" according to a news article based on statements from the Ogden City administration (June 7, 2008).	Ernest missed its deadline to finalize the land purchase; property is back on the market.
Midtown Hotel	"An Orem company plans to begin construction later this year on a $100 million hotel at The Junction downtown development." (January 10, 2008)	"Canceled".
Ashton Square	"Construction is slated to begin in August and will last about 14 months." (May 24, 2007)	"It's off the table for now and for the foreseeable future."
Earnshaw Building	"Construction on the Earnshaw Building is slated to start within a couple of months and end in about a year." (February 21, 2006)	Construction has slowed to a crawl. Signs in the windows promise that the first tenant, Deseret Books, will move in later this summer. The owner owes over $24,000 in delinquent property taxes.
Junction Leases	Lease revenues from Boyer were projected to bring the city over $300,000 annually by 2010. The Ogden City administration was willing to pay Boyer to add two more floors to its office building because they "wouldn't have much difficulty leasing" the space (May 31, 2006).	Even at four stories, the office building is mostly unoccupied and its only tenants are those that moved from across the street. Overall, the Boyer properties have generated no lease revenue for the city and "there is not anticipated to be any in the near future."
Junction Property Tax	"In the year 2015 ... the redevelopment district expires and community entities begin receiving the full benefit of the tax income from The Junction." (Newspaper advertisement from mayor's office, May 31, 2007.)	At the request of the Ogden City administration, the district's expiration date has been extended for an additional 12 years. Some taxing entities will receive partial "mitigation payments" during this time, but the rest will receive no tax revenue from the Junction.
Windsor Hotel	"Ogden Properties ... is conservatively estimating the project to be finished by spring next year" (June 24, 2007). In a development agreement with the city, the building's owner pledged to comply with all "applicable rules, laws and ordinances".	After the city council declined to amend an ordinance to increase the height limit on 25th Street, the owner canceled the project and threatened to demolish the building.
American Can Building	Was to have housed Mt. Ogden Scientific, Fresenius Medical Care, and 1st Contact Technologies (April 23, 2005).	None of these "high tech" companies ever moved in. The building has been renovated and a portion is now occupied by Amer Sports, but much of the building remains vacant.
Adam Aircraft	Promised to bring "hundreds of new jobs" (March 16, 2005).	The 55 Ogden employees were permanently laid off in January 2008. The company ceased operations soon thereafter, and its taxpayer-subsidized 91,000 square foot building is empty.
Ryan McEuen Amphitheater	"It is hoped that the amphitheater will open in 2008 to coincide with the completion of a commuter rail line... Patterson said." (September 10, 2006)	The site is still occupied by a landfill and a portion of it is posted for sale. Patterson says the city is "continuing to work" on the project, but McEuen says there is "no timeline for construction".
Ice Climbing Tower	"It will go up this year", said John Patterson (April 25, 2007).	$200,000 RAMP grant had to be returned to the county because matching funds were never raised.
High-Adventure Campground	"Campground for rock climbers may arrive soon in Ogden" (July 23, 2008).	Work on the campground began in September 2008 but abruptly ceased soon thereafter and has not resumed after nearly a year.
Velodrome	Mayor Godfrey "is hopeful that fundraising can be completed by the end of next year, enabling construction to be finished in 2011." He predicts that the city's contribution will need to be "more than $100,000". (September 6, 2008)	No funds have been raised yet for this $15 million project. The city's $2 million RAMP application was rejected in early 2009. The application promised that the city would contribute $2 million.
Via Ferrata	Supposedly open to the public for a $25 fee (November 18, 2005).	Never got a business license from the county.
Malan's Basin Resort	"The next few months will see trail work start on a new ski area entirely on private land at Malan's Basin which will be completed in time for the 2007 season" (Ski Press Magazine, August 19, 2005). Plans for the resort were to be made public by fall 2005.	Some ski routes have been cleared of trees and brush, but no other construction has taken place and no plans have been released.

Reader comments are, of course, most welcome. Should other items be added to this list? How can we better understand the difficulties that the mayor has encountered in carrying out his vision? And most importantly, where should Ogden go from here?

Retort to This Morning's Standard Examiner Editorial

Our home town newspaper's chirpy optimism spills over into babbitry and boosterism

By Curmudgeon

The Sunday Standard Examiner's lead editorial this morning lauds Ogden's "upbeat local economy." It speaks of new businesses spawned and fledged at the Business Depot Ogden now moving out to expanded quarters and business. It speaks of other Top of Utah businesses doing well... ATK, Alliant Technologies, etc... and it even pats itself on the back for being one of the few dailies in its size category not downsizing and losing circulation.

And then this:

The Economist, a respected British magazine, recently did an article on why Utah's economy is soaring above its neighbors in the West.... The article also cites local and state leadership as a plus, singling out Gov. Jon Huntsman and Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey for their corporate recruiting skills. "Ogden, until recently a decaying railway town north of Salt Lake City, has quietly become the world centre of winter sports equipment," the article states. "Mike Dowse, who oversees brands such as Atomic and Salomon for Amer Sports, gives three reasons: 'the mountains, the mayor and the money.'" While we understand recent developments, including the announcement of budget cuts by Godfrey, indicate that Top of Utah isn't immune to the economic turmoil affecting the rest of the country. However, how well the state has been weathering the storm so far is reassuring. If things do get worse before they get better, we have the system in place to best handle the challenge.

Let's clear away this first: Mayor Godfrey's effort to attract outdoors-oriented companies to Ogden, and to try to rebrand Ogden as an outdoor tourist destination were both good ideas, and have had some good results for the city, and he deserves credit for that. And I've no problem with the Std-Ex providing the occasional and deserved pat on the back to Hizzonah.

However, in order to be credible in its praise of the local economy, and the Mayor's role in it, the Std-Ex needs also to recognize some of the problems created by the "local leadership" and the questionable [to say the least] calls it has made. Dividing the city for years and sinking tens of thousands of public money into promoting his personal [and foolish] flatland gondola obsession is but one example. Campaigning to sell the city's largest park to a real estate developer to pay for the flatland gondola is another. There are more, mostly involving the debt the city has taken on under his leadership, and the consequences of that debt if major elements of the development the mayor has sold to the Council and the citizens don't pan out as hoped, and if city tax revenues continue to shrink in the deepening recession.

Was down at Sonora Grill yesterday [it's arrival at The Junction was a good thing for Ogden, as was the arrival of Iggy's Sports Bar at the same location], and noticed a realtor's banner on the unfinished Earnshaw Building at The Junction, which was to be the first of several condo developments coming on line. The banner said simply "Available." I did some checking and found Kristin Moulton's article in the SL Trib dated June 22 this year, reporting that: "Unfortunately, lease revenue from the rest of the mall has fallen short, he said. On Tuesday, the City Council will be asked to tap into the flush coffers of Business Depot Ogden to help cover $819,000 more of The Junction's debt payments. Already, the city was using $750,000 in BDO funds to pay mall debt this year. Arrington said some of the shortfall was in property-tax revenue since development of Phase 1 has been slow. "

Ms. Moulton also reported in the article that "The first owners of condos in the tallest building - the six-story Earnshaw Building - should be able to move in later in the summer, according to developer David Earnshaw."

Here it is, mid-November, and the building is not finished and is not occupied so far as I could see. Ms. Moulton also spoke to the owners of the groundfloor retail space in the Earnshaw Building:

"The largest retail space in The Junction, the ground floor of the Earnshaw building, has not yet been leased. But Dan Musgrave, who bought the space with two other Ogden investors, Bill Hancock and Gordon James, said he expects to have it leased in 90 days. The partners are talking to health-food stores, day spas, doctors and restaurants, he said. When he bought the property, Earnshaw said he wanted to attract a grocery store.The partners are talking to health-food stores, day spas, doctors and restaurants, he said. When he bought the property, Earnshaw said he wanted to attract a grocery store."

Yet as of October 25th, the ground floor, all 18K square feet of it, was being listed for sale [not leasing] on LoopNet [which lists commercial properties for sale].

And the Well's Fargo office block at the Southeaat corner of The Junction is not yet fully leased, after being open for the better part of a year. That's the building the Mayor asked the city council to add another floor to, at the city's entire risk for construction and leasing, because the Mayor thought Ogden lacked sufficient good office space. [By a one vote margin, the Council spared the city that continuing drain on its coffers.] One thought to be signed restaurant for The Junction has pulled out.

So there seem to me to be reasons for some concern that ought to temper the Editorial Board's optimism and confidence in the business judgment of the current administration, and reasons to question the Std-Ex's certainty that we have "the system in place" to handle increasing economic adversity. What "system" would that be, I wonder? Congratulatory editorials are fine, as are editorials expressing confidence in the city's economic future. But such editorials, if they are to be credible, must also take into account the evidence on the other side, so that they reach in the end... and take their readers along on the trip... reasonable and balanced conclusions. When an Editorial Board looks only at the upside, and ignores the downside, when it looks only at successes and ignores failures, or when it cavalierly counts not-yet-proven-projects as successes already achieved, then it risks slipping over from exercising sound editorial judgment into Babbitry and Boosterism. We have a Chamber of Commerce infatuated with flatland gondolas for that. We expect... and Ogden needs... better than that from the Standard Examiner editorial board. We're not getting it.