The Swap Meet

Whew. If the Canderel and Arena leases are the DEALS OF THE CENTURY, then the purchase and swap of lands for downtown and the arena is the DEAL OF THE MILLENIUM!

I received a very interesting letter from a reader but I wanted to tell you the significance of the deal first from my perspective:

1. Unlike the Collavinos, Mr. Farhi did not even have to send out an unsolicited letter to gain a prime piece of Windsor property or worry about Purchasing By-laws or RFPs since the City called him...it was given to him on a silver platter.
2. Now I know why the RFP for the Urban Village has never been sent out to developers. It was not going to get done until Eddie was ready for it to happen
3. Mr. Farhi now is in a dominant position in the Urban Village lands
4. Which developer will even bid when the RFP comes out
5. Developers will remember how others have been treated and will start walking away from Windsor.
6. Didn't we kick Beztak out of town because they wanted control of the Urban Village lands
7. The Casino is thrilled since how can a downtown complex be built now to compete with them
8. Those Marriott/Fairfield people were geniuses to be able to guess so far in advance where the arena lands were going to be built since the McHugh extension lands will service their hotel and the arena perfectly
9. I thought that Mr. Duben said after Council that the McHugh Extension capital costs were in the 2006 Capital budget. What foresight!
10. The Lear workers better start looking for a new job...it was suggested by Mr. Duben that their plant may close down sooner than expected presumably so that Mr. Farhi can redevelop the property
11. Mr. Farhi is a pretty smart developer too: at the May 8, 2006 Council meeting he had the property, 1600 Lauzon Road, rezoned to permit business office within the existing building to be added as an additional use.
12. And all of this happening at his site that he purchased about a year ago and is for lease now!

I expect that a number of my comments will be proven correct after what Mr. Farhi said in the Star today "Farhi said he foresees the Lear plant moving to an industrial area in a few years, which would pave the way for him and other landowners in the area to create a commercial and recreational hub surrounding the new arena. "This place, the way I see it, it is going to be transformed into a new development."

Here is the note I was sent. You decide who got the best deal out of this:

• Obviously, from the picture, you can see all of the additional work that will be incurred beyond the arena. What I wondered was how good a piece of property this was before the city decided it was an arena site. If this guy from London had wanted to do anything with the site he would have needed the McHugh extension and bridge over the Little River, which would have been AT HIS COST. Now the city will extend McHugh and build a new bridge (cost = $8-10 million) to service the land at taxpayer cost and he gets a piece of riverfront property + cash. The city got snowed big time. Add that to creating a new access road to the homes along the north side, and then intersection improvements that will be needed to accommodate the event traffic and you are looking at major costs.
  
  All of this will require a fairly extensive environmental assessment, so nobody should think shovels are going in the ground in the next year. There is effects to the Little River watershed to consider, effects to local traffic, environmental site assessments etc that need to be done beforehand.

Remember what I wrote about a Star editorial on the LaSalle arena. It is starting to sound familiar for Windsor now isn't it:

• "...the Star editorial fumed when the total package came in 44% above the arena only cost:
  
  LaSalle taxpayers not only have a right to feel angry. They have a duty.
  
  Their town offered them a great deal on a car and only told them after the sale they would have to pay extra for the engine. A new deal needs to be struck and can only be brokered at the polls."