Third Coast In The News

City manager wants parking options weighed Other buyers could surface with better offers, official says, Editorial, The Grand Rapids Press, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Apr 7, 2007

GRAND RAPIDS -- City Manager Kurt Kimball says city commissioners should do their homework before leaping at a private offer to buy two-thirds of the city's downtown parking supply.

That process could take more than two years and $1 million, Kimball said in a series of memos to city commissioners, who will debate his recommendation at their Tuesday meeting.

Second Ward Commissioner Rick Tormala, who has championed selling downtown's parking ramps and fringe lots to Third Coast Development Partners, accused Kimball of trying to kill a project that could raise cash for the city.

"My reaction is that two years and a million dollars is too much and too long," Tormala said. "It needs our thorough vetting, but we don't want stall, stall, stall. This looks to me like a bureaucratic response to innovation."

Mayor George Heartwell said he wouldn't call Kimball's response a stalling tactic. "I don't want to go off half-cocked when I'm selling against a major group of assets that belong to the people of Grand Rapids."

First Ward Commissioner Roy Schmidt also defended Kimball. "What strikes me as odd is why there's a rush to do this with an exclusive bidder," he said.

Kimball advised against negotiating solely with Third Coast, a local firm that asked for an exclusive 45-day negotiating period to establish the value of the parking facilities.

Kimball said others could come along with better offers.

"Our research, in combination with expressions of interest in the transaction by other parties, has convinced us that a private placement to a single party would not achieve maximum return," Kimball said.

Kimball's report also included letters from the city's Parking Commission and Downtown Development Authority, questioning whether the city should sell facilities that have been part of its successful downtown economic development program.

Third Coast told commissioners the cash-strapped city could raise between $35 million to $40 million by selling its parking facilities. Their offer also would place the facilities on the tax rolls, generating up to $1 million a year, they said.

Developers Dave Levitt and Bradley Rosely said they also want to take over and expand DASH, the city's downtown shuttle service. They promised not to raise parking prices above the rate of inflation, and said they won't develop the parking lots without replacing the lost spaces.

The developers asked for a 45-day exclusive negotiating period to establish a fair price for the facilities, which include about 4,700 of downtown's 6,700 publicly-owned parking spaces.

If others get involved in bidding, Levitt said they would ask the city to reimburse them for their costs of developing a proposal.

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