CentrePointe endgame
The history of the downtown block known as CentrePointe is long, painful and unproductive. It’s a story of occasional hope — architect Jeanne Gang’s dynamic and exciting presentation in 2011; the appearance last summer of the Collins family with deep pockets and roots in Kentucky — that have ended only in disappointment.
The one exception is the agreement the city secured in late 2013, when the owners needed the city’s support for a tax subsidy to pay some of the costs of excavating for and building a three-story underground garage. It’s the only leverage the public has to force the hand of the owners, the Webb Cos. and the family of Joe Rosenberg, to either build a project or sell to someone who will.
The agreement says that if the developer doesn’t build the parking garage then the city can, after a period of inactivity, demand the hole be filled. If nothing happens then, the city can use its own resources to fill the hole and present the bill, as much as $4.4 million, to the owners.
The obligation to pay that $4.4 million, according to the agreement, has “priority over all other claims, liens or encumbrances.”
The city gave the Webbs and Rosenbergs notice on the agreement last May but, when the Collins family appeared, city officials agreed to grant an extension. Shortly after that deal fell through recently, the city again cited the agreement, with a March 30 deadline to resume work.
It’s only right, after a block of historic structures have been destroyed and a huge hole dug in the center of our city, that the community get something other than a refilled hole for all this pain and embarrassment.
We don’t know what the endgame here is for city officials and their attorneys, and the Webb side has been uncharacteristically quiet. Regardless, it’s clear that the future for the block called CentrePointe is filled with potential landmines — legal, financial and political.
At this point, the goal should be to secure a development team and plan that can make this block productive again. We’re glad the city has some leverage to make that happen and appears willing to use it.
This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 3:00 PM with the headline "CentrePointe endgame."