Behind the scenes, there's resistance among City Council to the sale of Kemper Arena for $1 and locals don't know that THE DEAL ISN'T DONE JUST YET.
The main point of contention . . .
A GROWING NUMBER OF CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS DOUBT THE FINANCIALS TOUTED BY DEVELOPERS!!!
The reality . . .
The public/private "youth sports facility" is a long shot and there's skepticism about parents from throughout the metro dragging their rugrats down to the railroad tracks in order to play hoops.
Moreover . . .
"The Planned Industrial Expansion Authority approved a 12-year property tax abatement for the redevelopment project of the arena in the West Bottoms being pursued by Foutch Brothers. The PIEA also authorized up to $24 million in revenue bonds for the project."
"The historic designation is expected to net about $10 million in state and federal historic tax credit financing . . ."
This is all good news except for the fact that a new third level and some very significant decay has overlooked a tragic fact . . .
KANSAS CITY INSIDERS ESTIMATE THAT KEMPER ARENA NEEDS MORE THAN $75-$100 MILLION WORTH OF REPAIR AND IT'S IN MUCH WORSE SHAPE THAN ANYONE REALIZES!!!
As usual, the math for this project looks great on paper but not in the real world . . .
Accordingly . . .
The fear of KCMO clawbacks and contingencies has Council hoping to take another look at the project . . .
A quote on the subject:
"There's so much about this deal that doesn't make sense but in the end, there's just NOT ENOUGH MONEY for youth sports to make it happen. The danger here is that we're going to get stuck halfway through a project with nowhere to go and the City will have to pick up the slack. Already we have a horrible history with our management of this resource and this option is following that same line of thinking."
Translation . . . The effort to kill this deal is still in play as skeptics doubt "youth sports" will save an embattled facility.
Developing . . .
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