Redevelopment Commission sycophants do Gahan's bidding, and so Carl and Steve must be scourged.

If only Mr. Disney would fall on HIS sword.

As neighborhood residential values plunge, a fact verified by the arrival yesterday of the household property tax statement, it has become ever more apparent that the Hauss Square Gang's economic "revitalization" efforts (see what I did there?) have amounted to little of substance.

However, we must concede that when it comes to economic retribution, Team Gahan shows unfortunate and persistent aptitude ... and all the while, City Hall's handy TIF ATM continues to merrily spew Gahan re-election campaign monetization. Awash in the ceaseless cash, with almost all decision-making levers controlled by his innermost circle, the current occupant's vindictive nature now enjoys free reign.

Meet local businessmen Carl Holliday and Steve Goodman, who recently publicly criticized New Albany's enduringly toxic Main Street Improvement Project (last night we learned that others have mounted a legal challenge to Rosenbarger's Folly).

Concurrently at NAC, we've pointed out on numerous occasions that whatever conceivable rationale supports public expenditures and free (and utterly unprecedented) sewer tap-ins to enable residential construction at the Coyle site, simultaneously argues against the farmers market build-out at Bank and Market, which is on the verge of becoming one of downtown's prime infill locations, its potential value only capable of being enhanced by new apartment buildings around the corner at Coyle -- and killed by the farmers market expansion.

Now, back to Holliday, Goodman and New Albany Horizons, their downtown development entity. We'll pick up the narrative afterward.

Developers dispute price for downtown New Albany lots, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

NEW ALBANY — A group of developers still hopes to market six lots along Bank Street for commercial and residential use, but they want the New Albany Redevelopment Commission to readjust its asking price for the properties.

But unlike the previous extension, the city ordered two appraisals of the property, and raised the asking price for the lots to $137,000.

“It’s never been paid for, and the value of the property has gone up,” said David Duggins, director of economic development and redevelopment for the city.

As usual, Jeff G cuts to the chase with this observation.

The Gahan administration is hassling these local guys over $30K while simultaneously trying to give away millions in public funding to another, out of town developer just a few blocks away. Maybe this is what Dave Duggins meant by "branding effort".

To summarize: New Albany's Redevelopment Commission, which is helmed by Gahan sycophants and the local Democratic Party chairman, proposes to change terms on the purchase of undeveloped property at Bank and Main because the value of this empty land has increased (neighborhood stakeholders, register your envy as the semi rigs rumble past your house), while at the same time, the city insists on expanding the farmers market on similarly empty land a block away on Market, when it might be sold at a higher price to developers for infill construction, the odds of which can only increase as Coyle site development proceeds.

No wonder Gahan won't debate David White. In terms of economic development, these parts simply don't fit together.

But in terms of retribution against Holliday and Goodman for their temerity in questioning the top-down Main Street "Improvement" Project, it makes perfect sense.

This is how Team Gahan works, folks, and yet we close with good news.

You can vote them out, right now.

Random 2013 Platform Goals 2: Can we agree on a riverfront plan, please?

For the second installment of Random 2013 Platform Goals, we consider the current state of affairs on New Albany's downtown riverfront.

Apart from the Greenway, the YMCA (Scribner Place, Phase Only) and the new Amphitheater roof, very little has changed there in the eight years this blog has been functioning.

Today's news story (below) helps to bring the city's ongoing riverfront conceptual vacuum into sharper focus. It's tempting to roll one's eyes at another big-time development group refusing to show us the money, but at the same time, New Albany Horizons has a point of sorts.

Indeed, the planet stopped spinning for two (three?) years as we rushed to gift Mainland Properties with various keys to the city as pertains to its ever-mutable (and apparently, entirely unfunded) River View plans. Now the olive branch is withdrawn, and Horizons gets its deferred turn to convince someone/anyone there's any there, there. A bank account might be a nice first step.

To me, it reveals an even larger, perhaps congenital problem. There are numerous development plans on file, all of them addressing the riverfront's future. But there is no row-in-one-direction cohesion as to what might actually be expected to happen.

The anarchy is exacerbated by the usual small-pond turf wars. Successive mayoral administrations say one thing, councils do another, and the redevelopment commission something else again. More importantly, since the last two riverfront development plans minted by for-profit, non-governmental bodies (Mainland's and Horizons) called for condos, it might behoove us to check with the city of New Albany's overall housing master plan.

Well, is there one? If so, what's it have to say? If not, shouldn't there be a plan, or is our only strategy to lay in stocks of lubricant whenever private "partners" come calling?

And maybe is would be constructive to exercise leadership on these points -- although a return to the England administration's top-down, crony-enrichment bludgeoning is not welcomed.

Developer questions city’s aim for New Albany's riverfront corridor; New Albany Horizons granted extension on payment for property, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

NEW ALBANY — Developers who once proposed a $30 million project in downtown New Albany want to know the city’s vision for the riverfront area before proceeding with any investments.

On Tuesday, the New Albany Redevelopment Commission extended the due date on a mortgage note for six parcels of public property off Bank Street owed by the group New Albany Horizons LLC. In 2008, the commission agreed to sell the parcels to the group for $107,500, with final payment due by the end of this year. So far, the group has only paid property taxes on the lots.

New Albany Horizons already owns land around the public property, and eyed the parcels as part of its plan to construct residential, commercial and office space near the corridor of Bank and Main Streets.

Carl Holliday — a partner in New Albany Horizons — told the redevelopment commission Tuesday the group hasn’t started the project because of uncertainty over what will be developed around the property.

Business First says let's hear it for...

A revitalized downtown New Albany — Like many cities of its size, New Albany has been searching for years for a way to revitalize its downtown. Empty storefronts and under-utilized buildings give witness to a once vibrant downtown that lost out to suburban sprawl.

Downtown New Albany received a shot in the arm last year with the opening of a new YMCA and a city-owned aquatic center. Now a group of investors have plans for a $45 million development featuring condominiums, shops, a boutique hotel and a parking garage on a Main Street block.

The partners in New Albany Horizons LLC have a successful track record of redeveloping historic buildings in New Albany. The planned 210,000-square-foot development would be their most ambitious project yet.

There are a lot of unique challenges to doing a downtown development, whether you’re talking about a city the size of Louisville or one as small as New Albany.

Downtowns should be the hubs of their extended communities. We wish the New Albany Horizons partners good luck in making their vision come true.

Thanks to R for the tip.

Redevelopment Commission OKs land conveyance for Main Street development.

Holliday, Goodman, and crew are moving forward with help from the City and the exploration of options for new government digs continues.

New Albany panel approves downtown redevelopment plan, by Grace Schneider (Courier-Journal).

For the past 18 months, a group of investors has assembled the major elements of a $45 million plan to convert a block on New Albany, Ind.'s Main Street to condominiums, shops, a boutique hotel and a parking garage.

Their vision moved a step closer to reality today with the city Redevelopment Commission's approval to convey six lots in that block to New Albany Horizons LLC — in exchange for having the property cleared of residual contaminants.

New Albany Horizons: Speculation solidifies around potential downtown development.

The Tribune reports that the Redevelopment Commission's approval yesterday of a small land sale will help move a circulating rumor one step closer to reality.

Investors hope they have crossed the final preconstruction hurdle in getting a mixed-use development — worth an estimated $30 million to $35 million — approved for downtown New Albany.


Editor's note: The Tribune added to the story and then changed the headline and link. It's been updated here.

Offices, restaurants and hotel in the works in New Albany by Daniel Suddeath

Well-known downtown entrepreneurs Carl Holliday and Steve Goodman, along with Trish and Doug Wampler, hope to include retail, restaurants, a hotel, parking garage, and residential expansion in a Main Street project.