BEAT BYTE: Downtown Plan Shows Big Kroenke Move

BEAT BYTES: News Briefs from the Columbia Heartbeat
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1) Downtown Plan Shows Big Kroenke Move
2) Longtime Merchant Calls on Downtown Leader to Resign
3) Realtor Board Exec Files Complaint Against Hoppe
4) Poll Shows Hoppe, Thornhill, Pruitt, Phillips Ahead
5) CPS Math Curriculum Open House
6) Housing News from Bank of Missouri's Tom Stone
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1) Downtown Plan Shows Big Kroenke Move

COLUMBIA, 2/22/09 (Beat Byte) -- An "inventory" of properties apparently under consideration for a controversial "Community Improvement District," or CID, reveals that billionaire real estate developer Stan Kroenke purchased the Office Depot building at 101 S. Providence Rd., next to the old Osco building on the corner of Providence and Broadway:

http://www.downtown.org/pdf/CID/CID1.pdf
http://www.downtown.org/pdf/CID/CID2.pdf
http://www.downtown.org/pdf/CID/Proposed%20CID%20Map.pdf

Acquired under the name "University Centre LLC," local attorney Craig van Matre is listed as a contact point.

In Nov. 2004, Osco, a division of Albertsons Foods, ended lease renewal negotiations with The Kroenke Group (TKG) and vacated their sprawling store at 111 S. Providence, which Kroenke had purchased that April from the estate of former city attorney Edgar Wayland. At the time, TKG managed but did not own the Office Depot building, and had "no plans to buy it," according to a report in the Columbia Daily Tribune.

But the 2-part, 52-property CID inventory -- apparently created by the Columbia Special Business District -- shows University Centre, LLC now owns both the Osco and Office Depot buildings. Files online with the Boone County assessor confirm that University Centre, LLC bought the Office Depot building from Wayland's estate in December 2005.

In the early 1960's, Edgar Wayland purchased much of the land along Cemetery Hill, then segregated and dotted with shacks and shanties. Once partnered with attorneys Ralph Alexander and Warren Welliver, a state senator and Missouri Supreme Court judge, Wayland told the Columbia Missourian in 1969 that he "practically quit practicing law" to pursue a longtime dream of building a premiere shopping center in Columbia. A staunch opponent of the city's Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority (LCRA), which had been using eminent domain and Federal tax money as redevelopment tools, Wayland eventually purchased 14 acres on his own. After clearing 82 mostly vacant slum rental houses, without, he boasted, "one bit of cost to the taxpayer," Wayland built the "Columbia Plaza Shopping Center," today known as the old Osco site. Wayland died in 2003.

Kroenke's holding companies now own most of the land, including the little strip mall to the east; the vacant lot to the south; and the small buildings between Osco and Office Depot. A development called "University Centre" may be planned for the site, if TKG stays true to a tradition wherein its many limited liability companies are named for their respective projects.

With so-called "Transportation Development Districts," or TDDs, CIDs allow developers to pass along some improvement costs to shoppers in the form of increased sales taxes. But "if developers start routinely asking for CID approval, the city increasingly will lose control over its tax policies, allowing rates to rise more or less at the whim of developers," Tribune publisher Hank Waters wrote in a December 2008 editorial.

City officials and downtown leaders have been pushing hard to include the Kroenke parcels within the proposed CID boundary, in keeping with a Kroenke tradition Edgar Wayland might have frowned on. "THF Realty, a St. Louis-based shopping-center developer in which Kroenke is a part-owner, received $117 million in tax breaks from local governments on 10 shopping-center developments from 1994 to 2006," the Denver Post reported in 2007.

RELATED:
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2004/sep/20040922news003.asp
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/dec/20081219comm001.asp
http://www.showmeboone.com/ASSESSOR/RealEstateSummary.Asp?PARCEL=1631900240530001
http://www.showmeboone.com/ASSESSOR/RealEstateSummary.Asp?PARCEL=1631900240530101
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2) Longtime Merchant Calls on Downtown Leader to Resign

COLUMBIA, 2/22/09 (Beat Byte) -- Speaking of the Special Business District (SBD), on a Columbia Tribune blog post entitled "Carrie Gartner: Downtown's Phyllis Chase," Cool Stuff Owner and downtown retail fixture Arnie Fagan has blasted the SBD leader and called for her resignation.

Citing six "leadership similarities" between the former Columbia schools honcho and Gartner, including "closed door meetings; snide responses; attempts to marginalize opponents; and thwarted public information requests," Fagan says he and other downtown merchants are fed up with "approximately nine years of poor treatment."

"I think it is well past the time that Gartner step down," Fagan concludes.

RELATED:
http://www.columbiatribune.com/weblogs/arnie-fagans-downtown-blog/2009/feb/21/carrie-gartner-downtowns-phyllis-chase/
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3) Realtor Board Leader Files Complaint Against Hoppe

COLUMBIA, 2/22/09 (Beat Byte) -- Columbia Board of Realtors chief executive Carol van Gorp filed a complaint earlier this month against 6th ward city councilwoman Barbara Hoppe for what van Gorp called a "shocking use of city resources."

Van Gorp posted the complaint on her blog.

On receiving an informal office hours announcement from Hoppe via a City of Columbia listserv, van Gorp emailed city attorney Fred Boeckmann:

"In light of the fact that Ms. Hoppe has someone who has filed against her, I’m wondering if this violates some type of election ordinance -- using city resources etc.," van Gorp wrote. "I’m thinking about when they kicked Fred Perry (sic) off the radio when he was running for the hospital. Shouldn’t her opponent get to use the city’s mailing list as well?"

Boeckmann did not respond, so van Gorp emailed city manager Bill Watkins:

"If Councilwoman Hoppe can use the city email list and Rod Robinson (sic) has filed to oppose her, then shouldn’t he be allowed to use the city email process to hold meetings as well?"

Boeckmann then replied. "The announcement does not violate any election ordinance," he emailed van Gorp. "The mailing list is an open record that can be used by her opponent.”

Hoppe responded that van Gorp's question "shocked" her.

"There is currently a lot of criticism from Ms. Hoppe’s compatriot’s that our Mayor used city resources (a piece of paper, an envelope and a stamp) to write a letter," van Gorp concluded. "So it’s now ’shocking’ that a citizen would ask a simple question about use of city resources????? When the shoe is on the other foot, it doesn’t necessarily feel so comfortable."

RELATED:
http://cbormlsblog.com/2009/02/13/shocking-use-of-city-resources/
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4) Poll Shows Hoppe, Thornhill, Pruitt, Phillips Leading

COLUMBIA, 2/22/09 (Beat Byte) -- The Columbia Heart Beat's online poll shows incumbent city councilwoman Barbara Hoppe and school board candidate Michelle Pruitt with sizeable leads over their opponents. Of 160 votes cast in the 6th Ward council race, Hoppe is maintaining about a 74% lead over challenger Rod Robison.

Pruitt's lead in the city-wide school board race has held at around 44%, with attorney Sam Phillips a close second at 36% and Christine King at 26%. Two seats are open and up for election April 7th.

In the 2nd Ward city council race, realtor Jason Thornhill has maintained a 74% lead on opponent Allan Sharrock, with 38 votes cast.

Registered voters anywhere in Columbia will vote for school board, but only residents of the 2nd and 6th wards will vote in the council race this year. The poll is online at: http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/

ERRATA:

Jason Thornhill's official election kick-off is set for Thursday, February 26th at the Columbia Board of Realtors office at 2309 I-70 Dr NW (the outer road near the Boone County Fire Protection District HQ’s north of the Stadium/I-70 exit) from 5:30-7:30 with nachos from El Maguey and free beverages. We earlier reported that it was scheduled for March 6th.

-- Mike Martin for the Columbia Heart Beat
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5) CPS Math Curriculum Open House

Math curriculum coordinators Linda Coutts and Chip Sharp have announced the schedule for availability of math textbooks for public review. All are "open house."

February 24 Vandiver Building Conf. Rm. C 7 pm – 9 pm
February 26 Lange MS Media Center 4 pm – 7 pm
March 3 Smithton MS Media Center 4 pm – 7 pm
March 4 Gentry MS Media Center 4 pm – 6 pm
March 9 Lange MS Media Center 4 pm – 7 pm
March 10 Smithton MS Media Center 4 pm – 7 pm

Or by appointment Vandiver Building Call 214-3985
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6) Housing News from Bank of Missouri's Tom Stone

I just finished watching President Obama speak about his plan to help homeowner's with foreclosure and impending foreclosure. The plans are still unfolding and I promise to keep you informed and help assist in anyway possible. I am including a link to www.financialstability.gov. This is the only publicly available information on President Obama's plan.

Also, here is a pretty good article explaining the first time homebuyer tax credit.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/13/real_estate/homebuyer_tax_credit_finalized/

Tom Stone
The Bank of Missouri
Asst. Vice President