To summarize: The River View project's cost now has risen to $53 million, and yet there remain no financial disclosures on the part of investors; other potential real estate investors in the neighborhood question why the same package wasn't offered to them by the city; all the things presumed that you cannot explain still are expected to move growth in mysterious ways because Mike Kopp and DNA say so; and if we all stay quiet and play along with the lame duck administration, we may be able to watch movies at a two-screen national chain theater atop former public property.
But I digress.
River View team says New Albany not responsible for $12M bond; Proposed development discussed during Tuesday public hearingSecure in the knowledge that knowledge is good, and follow-up questions even better, I'm checking today with the folks at Heine Brothers and Bristol to gauge their level of involvement, and to let them know of some of the issues with River View that I'm guessing were not shared with them.
... River View is now being projected by Mainland Properties to cost up to $53 million, up from early estimates of $44 million. The development would be located adjacent to the Floyd County branch of the YMCA of Southern Indiana along Main Street ...
... “All of this will spur additional growth,” said Mike Kopp, the Realtor for River View and the owner of Blue Sun Real Estate in New Albany ...
... There were about 30 people at the public forum, but the majority were city officials or members of the development team ...
... As for potential tenants, Mainland Properties said several restaurants are interested in River View including Bristol Bar and Grille, Baja Fresh and Heine Brothers Coffee.
Meanwhile, according to Wikipedia, "Baja Fresh is a chain of fast-casual Tex Mex restaurants founded in Newbury Park, California, in 1990 and headquartered in Cypress, California." Since I don't feel like making a phone call to corporate HQ in CA to leave an unreturned voicemail about local issues, I'll merely reiterate: Death to chains and the projects that foster them. New Albany is a La Rosita's town, and I aim to keep it that way.
8 comments:
Maybe they can put a Dollar General Store in there, too.
I think Bardstown Road had a Baja Fresh for about a year and then it closed.
"Malysz was not asked to speak during the meeting, as the forum was organized by the council. Mayor Doug England did not attend the public hearing."
Funny.
"An official with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday the cut may be possible, but the agency has not received any documentation to review regarding New Albany’s levee and the project."
Maybe they're still waiting for those donations from John Mellencamp and Axl Rose before they send anything to USACE.
I hear you, Josh. The impression previously was that the Corps was cool with it. Technically, I guess they haven't said no.
It would be interesting to hear from the potential business tenants who plan to move and/or invest as well. If it's such a great opportunity for them (as opposed to the numerous other spaces they could occupy), they must have some exciting plans they could share.
Of the three businesses mentioned in this article as potential occupants, one already has confided to me that it is unlikely, and he lent the business's name to the River View endeavor more than a year ago as a favor of sorts to one of the principles.
If one can set aside a certain principled logic for a moment, it's actually pretty entertaining watching all this go down in great dollops of hyperbole and innuendo, especially while so many others are doing so much more to improve the quality of life in and perceived value of the city.
It's a bummer that many who could do more are driven from participation by such contemptible waste but, really, we're seeing the results of several decades of self loathing come to a froth one little fish pond eddy at a time.
Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "The Ohio is the most beautiful river on earth. Its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted."
More than 200 years later, our answer to that singly excepted position is concrete, both figuratively and literally.
Hannah Arendt on bad acid couldn't have struggled so.
death wish
–noun
1. Psychiatry . a suicidal desire, manifested by passivity, withdrawal, and absorption in nihilistic thoughts, that may eventually lead to suicidal behavior.
I can't imagine why a city with a storied history of flooding would consider cutting an opening into a flood levee for a poured concrete parking garage.
It's also odd that folks in New Albany refer to the 1937 flood as "a hundred year flood" as if:
1) these events actually keep a calendar
and
2) it will be a long time until a devastating flood threatens New Albany again. Even so, it's been 74 years...
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