RE: [Mpls] 1508 Lake Street Revitalization

[MJ Mueller]

I am posting the foloowing on behalf of Kathee Foran, In the Heart of the Beast's Executive Director.

MJ Mueller
Seward

Dear John,

Thanks for your message. I've been so embroiled in my own little world over
here in Phillips/Powderhorn that I've never asked myself why the city would
fund the Pantages and the Shubert and not HOBT. Thanks for making me look
up and take notice .... if you have the time and the inclination it would be
great if you would call the Mayor's office and ask these questions.

As to how we got to this far without securing the city portion was that we
thought it was a done deal. I feel a little foolish/naive to tell you that
we took the word of the Mayor and the city council members that were present
(Dean Zimmermann & Gary Schiff) at the meeting we had last February, when
they told us that if we could get a purchase agreement on the building that
they would take care of the gap - through Empowerment Zone and MCDA
programs.

The public campaign asking people to support this project does seem to be
having results -- we have a meeting scheduled for 8:00am tomorrow in the
Mayor's office. Of course, in the meantime the clock continues to tick.

Thanks again for reminding me of the larger world ... I will search out the
Strib articles.

Please contact me if you have any more ideas or questions.


Kathee Foran
Executive Director
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre
Phillips


From: "John Rocker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "mpls issues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: [Mpls] 1508 Lake Street Revitalization
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 11:36:43 -0500

I'm wondering 1) why the city would fund the Pantages and the Shubert
but not HOTB; and 2) how the HOTB got all the way to its closing date
without securing the city funding it thought it had.

According to past Strib articles, the city is spending $12M for the
restorations of the Pantages and surrounding Stimson Building; and the
city spent $4-5M moving the Shubert even though Artspace has yet to
secure the remainder of its financing.

[Note: the Strib also wrote that the MCDA is spending $6M to renovate
the Stimson Building, which it plans to sell to Historic Theatre Group
for $3.5M.]

On the face of it, the HOTB sounds like a project the city would
support: The theater wants the city to contribute only $500,000 (about
25% of total project costs); the project appears to have the remainder
of it financing in place; the project has neighborhood support; the
project is located in a place where revitalization has been occurring
but is still fragile and needs strong anchors; etc.

So, I want to know what went wrong. Why did HOBT think it had financing?
What reason does the city give for not financing it?


John Rocker
Calhoun


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