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Log inPier project on hold as council ends contract talks
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Pier project on hold as council ends contract talks
by Outspoken on Tue Nov 18, 2008 5:32 am
Pier project on hold as council ends contract talks
The Olympia Cos. and the city can't agree on how to move forward during a land dispute with the state.
By ELBERT AULL
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
After 21 months of competition, controversy and negotiations, Portland is back to square one in its effort to find a developer for the Maine State Pier.
City councilors voted Monday to abandon contract talks with The Olympia Cos., the developer chosen last year to rehabilitate the city's aging public wharf.
Councilors said the vote was the byproduct of an ongoing dispute between the city and state over ownership of the sea floor beneath the state pier, an argument that will likely be decided in court.
Moving forward with the project while city and state lawyers fought over the property – a battle expected to last at least a year – proved an insurmountable roadblock, councilors said.
"For The Olympia Companies, the risk was too high," said Councilor Cheryl Leeman, a member of the city's negotiating team.
Olympia had planned a $100 million project that would have put a hotel, office building, shops and a park on the pier and nearby land.
The city offered the developer a 75-year lease on the pier in a preliminary contract approved in August, but the lease term was challenged by state officials.
Both the city and state claim ownership of the sea floor beneath the pier, with Portland leaders saying it came into the city's possession as part of an economic development deal in the 1980s. The issue was crucial because the state limits sea floor leases to 30 years, and Olympia officials said they needed a 75-year term to obtain a loan for the project.
In March, state legislators killed a proposal that would have granted the city an exemption to the 30-year limit.
In October, nearly two months after the council approved the preliminary contract with a 75-year lease, Attorney General Steven Rowe said in a letter that his office did not believe the city had clear ownership of the sea floor under the pier.
Olympia President Kevin Mahaney said he was unwilling to pay for $500,000 worth of due diligence he agreed to in the preliminary contract – a traffic study and permitting, for example – while there was a lawsuit over the sea floor title looming in the background.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=222690&ac=PHnws
The Olympia Cos. and the city can't agree on how to move forward during a land dispute with the state.
By ELBERT AULL
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
After 21 months of competition, controversy and negotiations, Portland is back to square one in its effort to find a developer for the Maine State Pier.
City councilors voted Monday to abandon contract talks with The Olympia Cos., the developer chosen last year to rehabilitate the city's aging public wharf.
Councilors said the vote was the byproduct of an ongoing dispute between the city and state over ownership of the sea floor beneath the state pier, an argument that will likely be decided in court.
Moving forward with the project while city and state lawyers fought over the property – a battle expected to last at least a year – proved an insurmountable roadblock, councilors said.
"For The Olympia Companies, the risk was too high," said Councilor Cheryl Leeman, a member of the city's negotiating team.
Olympia had planned a $100 million project that would have put a hotel, office building, shops and a park on the pier and nearby land.
The city offered the developer a 75-year lease on the pier in a preliminary contract approved in August, but the lease term was challenged by state officials.
Both the city and state claim ownership of the sea floor beneath the pier, with Portland leaders saying it came into the city's possession as part of an economic development deal in the 1980s. The issue was crucial because the state limits sea floor leases to 30 years, and Olympia officials said they needed a 75-year term to obtain a loan for the project.
In March, state legislators killed a proposal that would have granted the city an exemption to the 30-year limit.
In October, nearly two months after the council approved the preliminary contract with a 75-year lease, Attorney General Steven Rowe said in a letter that his office did not believe the city had clear ownership of the sea floor under the pier.
Olympia President Kevin Mahaney said he was unwilling to pay for $500,000 worth of due diligence he agreed to in the preliminary contract – a traffic study and permitting, for example – while there was a lawsuit over the sea floor title looming in the background.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=222690&ac=PHnws
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Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
