Ames Progressive

Why did Wolford fail to get any binding leases by Dec. 1, 2007 for his proposed development on East 13th Street?

The Ames Tribune reported December 7 that Bucky Wolford said his failure to obtain leases was due to:
1) “delays in getting the major site plan approved,”
2) the “unknown certainty of receiving approval for this project to go forward,” and
3) “not a realistic amount of time for finalizing lease agreements after the City Council approved the major site plan … Oct. 23.”

Do these reasons give you the impression that the city is at fault?

Consider additional information:

In October 2005, city staff expected Wolford to present a major site development plan in July 2006, according to the Tribune. Instead Wolford submitted the plan 13 months later, August 27, 2007. The City approved the plan 2 months later, Oct. 23, 2007. Is the City responsible for the “delays in getting the major site plan approved?” I don’t think so.

Opposition to Wolford’s mall was evident from the time his proposed development became public knowledge in 2002. Despite the uncertainty this caused, Wolford signed the Developer’s Agreement on November 4, 2005, which gave him more than two years to keep his promises. This was the third such agreement drafted and it gave Wolford two years more time to perform than the first draft did. Is the city responsible for Wolford being in a situation where he has not been able to get signed binding leases by a deadline to which he agreed? I don’t think so.

Additional uncertainty, arising from the Ames City Council’s possible unfavorable actions regarding the Rezoning Ordinance, lasted 6 months at most, ending in mid-June of 2006, when Wolford and the Ames City Council agreed to a “compromise.” It could have been ended sooner if Wolford had bought the land. Is the city responsible for Wolford’s failure to buy the land or to have binding leases signed in the 17 months after the “compromise” was reached? I don’t think so.

Given that it takes three to four months to finalize lease arrangements, I agree with Wolford when he says there was “not a realistic amount of time for finalizing lease agreements after the City Council approved the major site plan . . . on Oct. 23.” However, as described above, Wolford didn’t submit the plan until August 27, 2007, 21 months after the Developer’s Agreement was signed and only four months before the deadline. The city took two months to approve it, the Planning and Zoning Commission on October 17 and the Ames City Council on October 24, 2007. Is the city at fault for Wolford having insufficient time before the deadline to get binding leases signed after the major site development plan was approved? I don’t think so.

This additional information shows that Wolford, not the city, is responsible for the delays, uncertainty, and lack of time to finalize leases which he says caused his failure to have signed binding leases by December 1, 2007.

Could the basic reason underlying Wolford’s failure to have signed binding leases by December 1, 2007, be that savvy retailers know that Wolford does not have the necessary market size to make his development viable?