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Published: May 08, 2008 01:55 pm
City mayor: Authority has thus far failed
Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News
The following links will direct you to PDFs of the Trestle Development, LLC Lease Aggreement:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
The lease has been assigned to an entity made up of Trestle Development, LLC and an entity wholly owned by Concord Hospitality Enterprises Company, as permitted by the Lease. The Parcel B description in all documents is being revised to correct a slight error on one boundary line. -- Phil Deters, counsel to the Canal Place Preservation and Development Authority.
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CUMBERLAND - A lot of emotion was expressed Wednesday during a two-hour meeting about the past, present and future of Canal Place.
That makes sense, those in-the-know said, because there's a lot at stake.
Perhaps because of that, Cumberland Mayor Lee Fiedler had no intention of sitting quietly as others voiced their frustration with an apparently secretive and unproductive effort on the part of the Canal Place Preservation & Development Authority.
The authority is a state agency, Fiedler said, with the current mission of having somebody - contractually, Trestle Development LLC - build a hotel.
Sen. George Edwards said the hotel should have been built several years ago.
The authority has thus far failed, Fiedler said. Officials "have not gotten the property to where it is supposed to be," Fiedler told a crowded room of city, county, state officials, authority board members, Canal Place shop owners and others, including those who want a piece of the pie.
"People who were supposed to be monitoring it were surprised" at the failure, Fiedler said. "I wasn't surprised. Counties and cities don't support state agencies. This would be one of the first."
State funding of the authority's operating budget is expected to be phased out over the next two years. Edwards and Delegate LeRoy Myers, who arranged Wed-nesday's meeting and sits on the House Appropriations Committee, said they had to fight hard to get the $200,000 for fiscal 2009.
If something isn't done, and soon, Myers said, there won't be any money next year. Part of Myers' argument this past legislative session was that city and county officials did have a financial commitment to the long-term success of Canal Place in the form of tax credits and support for adjacent draws that help bring people to downtown Cumberland.
City and county officials have expressed a cautious willingness to contribute their share of the hotel/motel tax revenue generated by the new hotel - 5 percent and 3 percent, respectively - if certain conditions are met.
On Wednesday, Fiedler reiterated his continued support as long as promises that have been made are kept.
"Are we willing to get involved? Yes," Fiedler said.
Officials noted Trestle had, on Tuesday, applied for a permit for the hotel. City Administrator Jeff Repp indicated the permit is under review and shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks at most. Once the permit is issued, a timeline will be formed requiring Trestle to have the hotel open within 18 months of the permit's issuance. Additionally, plans must be submitted for the Footer Dye Works building, or the pad for a proposed restaurant must be constructed, with a franchise in place within four years.
The company is in default of its lease if it fails to execute these actions, said Assistant Attorney General Phil Deter, counsel for the authority. Control of the land in question would revert back to Canal Place if that occurs.
But local attorney Sandra Saville was cynical such a default would be enforced. After all, she said, it's already happened.
"You didn't do it when you had the original breaches," Saville said of a default, then a renegotiated contract with Trestle. "The only (changes) I know about now are favorable to the developer."
Trestle has indicated its intent to tear down the sawtooth portion of the historic Footer Dye Works building. Howard Buchanan, board chairman, cites a 1996 engineering study which indicates that 145 out of 169 major components graded, or nearly 86 percent, were in the worst shape possible.
At an estimated cost of $627,000 in 1996 dollars, stabilizing the building would have been "cost-prohibitive" and "unjustifiable" to the board, Buchanan has said.
Saville argued that renovation techniques have changed in the last 12 years. She noted that there are a number of developers interested in saving the building and converting it into a multipurpose building and state tax credits encouraging them to do so.
Advocates of tearing the building down, Saville said, have argued for years it will fall down. Still, "it hasn't fallen down," she said.
Matt Power, chairman of the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority and deputy secretary for the Maryland Department of Planning, said he represented Gov. Martin O'Malley at the meeting.
Power said it's clear the project "needs a strong, responsive board" and, "it's possible for us to come to the table to help."
That help could come financially or otherwise.
Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.
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