• No Development Cost Charges.
• The City of Nanaimo has agreed to selling adjoining property, currently designated as an alley, to the development rather than adding it to adjoining parkland.
• A 10 year property tax exemption.
• An agreement with the global hotel brand Hilton to operate the finished hotel.
• Control just short of ownership of waterfront parkland (a lease) adjoining the property for utility uses such as delivery bays and for restaurant and cafe patios.
• Generous rezoning allowing for greater height and massing than currently permitted.
• The modest Community Amenity Contribution created by the value lift of the property by the City’s generous actions, is to be spent in the park areas nearest the project.
Let’s take a closer look at the investor, the business plan and Insight’s role once, as they’ve said is their plan, they turn over ownership of the building to the strata corporation owned in turn by some 300 small investors.
Pretty nice package even before the investor weighs the merits of the business plan.
.@NanaimoCommons Loss of parkland for a development project seems like an utter rejection of #sustainability by local officials.
— Kevin H. Posey (@KevinHPosey) August 26, 2014
Insight has a very smart idea here and I honestly wish I had thought of it! And is it at the end of the day any of my business? They own the property and I’d defend their right to raise investment capital any legal way they want. However —
Letter: Citizens care about downtown parks @NanaimoBulletin http://t.co/rdgYA1qJa7
— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) August 29, 2014
Once the project exceeded it’s site, and the zoning restrictions in place, things changed fundamentally. The value that will be put on the market here to small strata owner/investors is provided by 3 pretty big players: Insight Developments who own the property; the Hilton Corporation who we’re told have contracted to operate the hotel; and here’s the thing: a large part of the value of the investment product will be supplied by you and me, that is the City of Nanaimo.
—@anderson_spence No mention of Insight plan: turn bldng over to strata corp asap—Interesitng?
http://t.co/qdk9lh7xdS
http://t.co/u2KqZ0wqOb
— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) August 27, 2014
Save Georgia Park #Nanaimo let's save our public park 4 future generations http://t.co/85yK55ZQ2I #nanaimoelxn
— Mid Island News (@midislandnews) August 31, 2014
Two of the three parties bringing value here, Insight and Hilton, have minimized risk while standing to reap great benefit. Good for them, that’s smart. The third party, the City of Nanaimo, is bringing considerable assets to the table, as listed above, and our potential upside is very difficult to quantify. We risk the loss of parkland, our portion of the cost of park upgrading which may or may not have been a high priority before we became involved in the hotel project, we risk, having given away the uplift value we’ve created, never being able to receive our rightful return on our investment.
Once the project exceeded its site and existing zoning regulations and if it was accommodated by the City, we would effectively become principals and it’s time we did some due diligence.
We need to know the exact details of the agreement with Hilton and how it extends to the corporation we are in fact dealing with here: a corporation that doesn’t actually exist yet, but when it does, Insight with whom we are dealing now will no longer be a player.
We need the proponent to supply an independent analysis of the viability of the hotel project. I think it’s just prudent to assume that the mom and pop investors who will be enticed to invest in this project will lack the research resources to weigh such macro economic factors as the long and short term forecasts of the Chinese economy and of Asian tourist market trends.
Parkland is what makes # Nanaimo great. Don't loose Georgia Park. Letters to @NanaimoBulletin http://t.co/czlD97zKlc
— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) August 30, 2014
Cynical rush to public hearing of #Nanaimo waterfront hotel proposal... http://t.co/vUSsbPWe8T
— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) August 26, 2014
We need to be as savvy negotiators as our experienced partners in this enterprise. We need to withhold any approval of land purchases and park use permits, of rezoning applications until we have satisfactorily concluded win/win agreements that bring the best value to the community. Approving the rezoning applications now leaves the City effectively hampered in negotiating any other outstanding issues. Why would we even consider doing that?
We need to ensure by covenant and or any other means that our concessions are “use it or loose it” and expire in total at the end of a set time frame.
Enjoy #Nanaimo's harbour waterfront walkway now because big changes coming http://t.co/85yK55ZQ2I cc @ProtectionIsle
— Mid Island News (@midislandnews) August 31, 2014
@midislandnews @ProtectionIsle All I can think of is that song, "paved paradise, put up a parking lot".
— cindy (@theDoorsgirl) August 31, 2014
Ooh, bop bop bop. @theDoorsgirl @midislandnews It can be stopped, but #Nanaimo citizens need to take notice & speak up.
— Protection Island (@ProtectionIsle) August 31, 2014
Public hearing this Thursday. Why the rush? @ProtectionIsle @theDoorsgirl @midislandnews cc @FredPattje @Bill_McKay11 http://t.co/wWAR0p1n8v
— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) August 31, 2014
@1sidewalkballet in Nanaimo? bad joke? inc. max allowable density to a Floor Area Ratio of 12 & increase the max allowable height to 114.3m
— CityHallWatch (@CityHallWchVAN) September 4, 2014
