Work involved!?$ In Prince George it is not only who you know; but who you ......

Putting together a complex real estate deal, and taking on risk in the process, is worth something. It seems everyone commenting on this subject is of the opinion people should work for free.

The VALUE to the community Dan has achieved through this initiative, and yes, his rolodex, is significant. Stop kicking the people that are doing something progressive - we're not going back to 1968 - progress will be more complex than setting up pulp mills and hiring hundreds of workers at top union wages.

word has it that the cabaret license is going to reopen the Cadillac Ranch if so how long ago was this planned, before the proposal for use was offered by the city I think

The city is buying too much property! Increases in taxes four years in a row tells me that there is no money for this. I also hope that council is not making closed door deals behind the tax payers backs. The map posted yesterday on how much land has been purchased by our city council is shocking to say the least. We cannot even hope that the large box stores are going to buy some of this property because the city planners have them put somewhere else. One year of taxing the businesses downtown will drive some, somewhere else. I see bad things in all of this. One cannot even hope that they know what they are doing. :{

bohemian, you are as your name suggests!! You must be one of them.

bohemian,

would you please take the time to explain to the rest of us naive tax payers why would should slap Daper Dan on the back for this one, especially considering the time frame?

Why is it that Daper Dan and his band of merry men were not interested in the property just a few short months ago, then suddenly were interested enough to buy a devalued asset (no liquor license) and give the former owner a tidy $500,000 plus profit? It is especially hard to swallow considering McLarens connections downtown and past dealings with City Hall.

I have no problem with Dan McLaren making a profit, but I have a real problem with the city getting taken to the bank like that. There are allot of questions which remanin to be answered, but I get a feeling we wont be hearing the answers from Daper Dan.

Can anybody else hear the fat lady singing on Daper Dans political career?

A thought just occured to me.

Dan McLaren for our next mayor.

With moxie like he has this town will right the ship in no time.

@Stompin Tom - your argument cannon be taken seriously as you clearly have false assumptions supporting it. "...not interested in the property just a few short months ago." - FALSE. Maybe YOU only heard of his interest a few short months ago, but his interest has been much longer than that. So what ELSE are you missing?

The rampant half-baked speculation by many on this subject is both humorous and tragic. Let's see how things develop, shall we?

BTW, except for the opinion of "one landholder", how does one come up with a profit of half a million dollars that is blaring in the headline? Based on the SPECULATIVE math above, the best I can add up is $300,000 + $100,000 bounty. Plus there are costs to the deal we don't know about, admitted in the story above.

This speculation is great for page views, not so good for accurate (and ethical) news.

McLaren, may have popularity. But he is still playing big guy, with someone elses money. Thus, how far can you trust him.

Would he make a good mayor, he definitely will be able to sell more than the current Dan. He definitely has more charima than the current Dan.

Rogers will do it for another 3 years, and then Cameron will step up to bat.

....I think a very, very, close look should be taken at this deal.

Just to be sure of the facts.

and one more thing bohemian, what is our City Council doing in a "complex real estate deal" in the first place? Hello!! Why is City Council taking on risk in any form with our money? Danny boy has produced nothing of any significance. His sights are focused on things that aren't in line with what the majority of tax payers want.

WE WANT OUR ROADS FIXED....PERIOD!! WE WANT THEM FIXED PROPERLY! And only after that is done, will we the tax payers consider a PAC at $54 million.

The base of the new RCMP building, was already in place, but the City Council decided to let it go and let some investor turn it into a Medical Building. We have a bunch of morons running this ship it would appear. There was an underground parking lot, that the RCMP said they required(I can understand that). The buildings foundations were designed to have several floors built above. It was all there for the start of an RCMP building, but NO, these morons had another idea! It could have saved the tax payers 10 or 15 million dollars.

There are a lot of things we would like, but we have to take care of the basics first. If there is money left over, then fine, maybe we can look at these grandiose projects.

The economy is in the tank, has anybody even noticed that? Business's are closing all over the City, and our councilors want to carry on with business as usual. My business is down 45%, hello. The Carmel Restaurant closed it's doors recently. They were a good, solid family restaurant. Good food at a reasonable price. Poor Economic times have sent them into bankruptcy!

This City Council needs to get a grip on what is happening in the world economy. You can't keep coming back to the tax payer for more money. WE HAVE NO MORE TO GIVE! We are tapped out. It is time City Council, starts curbing their spending, and slash jobs at City Hall.

Our jobs are being slashed in the private sector, what makes you think your City workers are better than the rest of us.

Dan Rogers, you are incompetent as the Mayor of Prince George, and most of your councilors are incompetent. I say most, because I do believe in Brian Skakun, He seems to try and steer the ship in the right direction! He has no axe to grind on the revitalization of downtown Prince George, as he has no business down there.

I had a lady in my cab tonight. I took her home to a very affluent neighborhood. She was the one that brought up the condition of the roads. She carried on about the irresponsible spending by our City Council. She commented, that it would be very nice to have a PAC, but not before our infrastructure is fixed. She agreed with me, the roads are so bad, they have been neglected for so long, there is no hope of them ever been brought back to acceptable conditions. She said, "it is a total mismanagement of the tax payers dollars for many years past".

So BOHEMIAN, put that in your pipe and smoke it!!

"citing confidentiality on real estate matters"

This is public money, and with that there should be complete transparency. If there are elements of the deal that need to be kept confidential, the deal should not be made. Just the fact that there is a confidentiality clause indicates that shady back room deal a la 1968 has occurred. In plain English, the public purse was raided for personal profit by public figures.

A public audit of this deal is in order.

well bohemian, it is quite simple, you do not know how to add or subtract. You would be a loss at times tables. Time to get back to math 101 bohemian. A kindergarten student could figure this one out!!

McLaren has too many skeletons in his closet to run for mayor...besides he got slaughtered when he tried to run for council a few times...

@ taxinapothole - that's a hell of a rant that has very little to do with the subject at hand. You're welcome to run for a council seat in less than two years, if you wish.

For the record, if you're elected to council, I'd like to see city staff trimmed to 650 and a cultural overhaul that focuses on results, not process. I think most of the top bureaucrats should be gone, and most middle managers should have significant wage rollbacks, more in line with the private sector.

But what I'd like to see at city hall has little to do with this story. Maybe I should save it for a more suitable story or Friday Free For All.

@taxinapothole: sorry - missed liquor license.

Poorly reported story Ben...bohemian, your on the right track here.

bohemian, my "rant" as you would like to refer to it as, has everything to do with the subject at hand. Maybe it is time you considered other peoples oppinions, not just your own.

Very narrow minded you!

Anyway, Harley season is here, won't be "on" here much this summer, as I will be "on" the road! Please look out for motorbikes, we deserve our share of the road!!

Have a great summer everyone!

Did I not post this same story/scenerio in last week's opinion250 article notes on the sale? Hmmmmm?

These type of, (secret) deals using taxpayer dollars is nothing new and will go on forever unless the people stand up for whats right and take back our gov't. It is becoming more and more apparent that peaceful civilized protest isn't going to get the job done.

This reminds me of an issue thats been unfolding over a few years in Parksville BC. There was a huge highrise development proposal for the waterfront overlooking Parksville beach started a few years ago that the residence of Parksville had the oportunity to vote on. For some reason there were 3 votes on this issue. All 3 votes were clearly a win for the 'NO" camp.

The residence of Parksville are still scratching their heads wondering how the project was built anyway thus destroying the longtime beach view of the citizens. All for someones personal profit.

These days the latest Mayor thinks it will be a good thing to turn the current two way hwy through town that runs past this development into a one way hwy heading north and to build a southbound hwy through town using existing residential streets. Rumour has it the highrise project is in need of more parking for their project and this hwy change will provide that parking.

It's no different in any other city or town in BC. The local gov'ts are running things the way they see fit and do not care what input or protests they receive from the taxpayer. MyPG is nothing but a way for the gov't to make people think their opinions count, nothing more.

non-partisan party!

We should not be owning any proerty or buildings.

We should privatize the City. Make it into a real company town and have a consortium of large business enterprises run it. Enough of this socialism where the people own some of the stuff. Let someone else own it and we pay when we use it and only those things we use.

The real question is why did city hall need commonwealth to complete this deal when they could have negociated the same deal and saved the tax payers 1/2 a million. Commonwealth would not have done this deal if they were not at least 90% sure the city was going to buy it from them. So here we have the idoits at city hall due to thier own incompetence requiring and asking for private investors to do deals that the city should be able to complete. Its time to fire some of the village idoits and hire some real city workers.

Gus, wow. on your last comment.

I thought you were on the otherside of the bench. Welcome, to the dark side.

I want to know why NDI is investing in a real estate flip. I thought there mandate was to invest in businesses that were creating employment to assist displaced forestry workers. Couldn't understand it when the loan was first announced and it makes even less sense now.

truthseeker, it was not created just for displaced forestry workers. It was the money from the sale of BCR. it was formed for leveraging to create employment.

Unfortunately, the story has not been completed yet. Some has the whole story, we are not smart enough to be informed about it yet. Thus, the deal with the wood innovation was already in place, and it will create probably 300 construction person years of work by the time it is completed. and it will likely employ 40 full time employees there after. Thus it was the purpose of NDI to ensure it could happen. That's what it is there for. Government needs private industry, private industry needs discreet financing sometimes, to make things happen. some things, we are not smart enough to understand.

Is someone suggesting here that the only land that a Wood Center could be built on is across from the Ramada in Prince George, or for that matter in the downtown? The city map shows they have plenty of property that could be turned over for a Wood Resource Center.
Or is it that the City paid 2,500,000 for it and that makes it a more attractive site.

If there is an opportunity to build something like this, why not build it down town. Otherwise, we need to stop complaining about downtown. We missed the boat when Kin 4 got built in the Exhibition ground. The swimming pool missed the mark. If downtown is goind to become viable, then we need to find a way to bring the people back. Thus, don't build it anywhere else, but on the suggested block.

Then we have only a few blocks to deal with on third Avenue.

Very disappointing that city hall could not have figured out how to turn a 1/2 million profit on the PG hotel venture.
Even if the city had bought the hotel, sold the cold beer and wine store license for the 1/4 million, could not find a buyer for the reported sale price 2.5 million, the city would still be 1/4 million ahead of where there are today.
It certainly appears from the information presented to the public so far that this deal is somewhat shady. Be interesting after the next civic election to see who the contributors are to the mayors campain fund.

I asked once before, but not sure if anyone replied.

Does anyone know whether there was ever a time when the City was negotiating with the Cooles directly?

If they were, does anyone know what price range they were talking at that time?

If they were talking, and were discussing a price range, would anyone be surprised if the price range was higher than the City eventually bought it for?

That is just one of several possible scenarios. It always amazes me how little we know and how much posters depend on assumptions and get themselves all in a tizzy for waht might actually be a win-win situation.

Did the Colle's leave anything on the table. If so, how much?

Just another way to look at this.

:-)

Gus, i am pretty sure, that someone from the city has been in discussion with the Coole's. The city low balled it too much probably, and the Coole's told them to pound salt. That's probably the reason why they went through Commonwealth, because the city wanted it bad enough to appease the province by delivering a piece of land and clean up the undesirable elements in the area.

He spoke .... I recall figures in the $4 million range as being the asking price some time ago. In fact, a figure of $4.3 is cited by one of the posters at one time. If that rumour at that time was true. Of course, by the time one puts the licenses back onto teh $2.5 million, one gets closer to that sort of figure.

Of course, the thing people seem to forget is that Commonwealth still holds some property cards on that block that it has not played yet. I do not know how many, but the Free Press reports four along George Street.

So, BC wants all of the block, some of the block or none of the block. Which will it eventually be and how long is "eventually" away from today?

I could only guess on the current events. It must have been pretty hard for the Cooles to accept a offer of 2.25 million after turning down 4 million a few years back.

Eitherway, your are correct with the other four pieces of property that the province has to deal with, and the old bus depot, and the Midnight Express. That's gonna likely be in the total bill of 10 Million dollars.

Lets take a look at what is actually happening here.

1. Liberals sell BC Rail to CN Rail

2. Liberals set up Northern Development Trust and fund it with $187 Million dollars to invest in North Central BC to generate employment etc;

3. NDIT loans $1,875,000.00 to Commonwealth Campus Inc. to purchase PG Hotel.

4. Commonwealth sell property to City of Prince George .

5. City of Prince George gifts the property to the Provincial Government.

6. The Provincial Government builds a Wood Inovation building on the property and fills it with Government workers, and UNBC students, etc; etc; The cost of these workers, and the maintenace of the building become a cost to taxpayers.

7. One arm of our Government NDIT financed a private group to buy a product that was then gifted to the Government that set up the group that did the financing.

If you consider the above for awhile you will have to come to the conclusion that we are insane.

This same kind of BS took place for the Airport Runway etc;

If IPG were to move into the Wood Innovation Building what would happen to the CN Building they bought on 1st Ave.?? Would they be able to sell it.???

There was a story in the press a few years ago that the property was contaminated, and that IPG did not do due diligence before they bought the bulding. If this is so, and it is in fact contaminated, they may not be able to sell it.

Insofar as the interest on the loan to Commonwealth Campus Inc goes, who knows??

If you look at NDIT Project List for 2009 it shows loans under Federal Programs.

1. Conifex Inc Export Focused Modernization of Lumber Drying & finishing $8,500,000.00 Repay amount $8,500,000.00

2. Del-Tech Manufacturing INc. Mackenzie Thermal Oil Plant. $5,500,000.00 Repay amount $5,500,000.00.

3. Pinnacle Pellet Wl Inc. Biomass Decontamination, Preparation & Dehydration $1,935,699.00. Repay amount $1,935,699.00.

4. Commonwealth Health Corporation, Commonwealth Medical Centre $1,000,000.00 Repay amount $1,000,000.00

So if Im reading the report correctly it appears that they dont always charge interest on loans.

Have a nice day.

and the mayor of PG Dan Rogers sits on the board of NDIT.