Confirmation factor of SCPR sources' saying Stu Lichter has purchased the McKinley Grand?
For over a week now, The Stark County Political Report (SCPR, The Report) has been hearing that Pro Football Hall of Fame Village Expansion (HOF, HOF-VP) developer Stu Lichter (also, IRG Lichter bio) has agreed to purchase the McKinley Grand Hotel located in downtown Canton.
Here is an e-mail from an indirect source:
It was announced at an annual Civil War Ball [Ohio Military Regimental Ball on or about February 16, 2019] that the hotel was bought out by Lichter and people should book their rooms ahead for next year. ... then told me her boss confirmed it and said the hotel was bought out by the Lichter organization.
The SCPR has been checking the Stark County auditor's office real estate transfer log and has not so far in detected a transfer so far this year of the McKinley Grand.
If true, the Canton city government may think of him as being Saint Stu. Mayor Thomas Bernabei's administration is making strides in turning Canton's economic/financial slide of some 60 years.
However, the Bernabei administration must ramp up Canton's effort to encourage the development of "attractions" so that out-of-towners want to come to Canton and be downtown to enjoy the attractions.
Recently it was announced that downtown Canton is going to get a state-of-the-art WiFi infrastructure boost.
A purchase of the McKinley Grand by anybody (Lichter or some other person/entity) with a promise to plow money into updating the hotel would be would be music to the ears of Mayor Bernabei and Canton City Council members.
Such a development would be one more step forward on the long trek to recover some of Canton's greatness.
An attempt was publicly revealed (LINK) in September 2017 through December 2017 to sell Canton's only major hotel: The McKinley Grand which originally opened in 1986 as a Hilton hotel to become briefly a Marriot hotel but mostly as an independently operated hotel which is its current status. It's current owner took over in 2001.
In December 2017, it was reported that the downtown Canton hotel was taken off the market, it seems, because nobody was willing to offer the asking price.
If the report of an imminent sale to Lichter is true, one has to wonder how much Lichter paid for it.
According to Stark County auditor records (see below in this blog), the current appraised value is $4.5 million.
But who believes, again, if reports of the hotel's sale to Lichter is in the works, that he has paid $4.5 million.
Perhaps so but the SCPR would be shocked if a sale to Lichter is made and consequently the transaction gets processed through the Stark auditor's offer that it will show $4.5 million or better purchase price.
Lichter has demonstrated over years that he is a savvy real estate developer who makes terrific deals for himself through his company Industrial Realty Group (IRG).
To say it again, if a sale is in process, the threshold question is:
Does Canton and Stark County want more of Stuart Lichter as a new owner of the hotel?
This blogger has not heard many positives about Lichter in discussing with various Stark Countians their view of Lichter's role the HOF-VP and the Hoover complex (a North Canton redevelopment project.
The most heard observation made to this blogger is that when Lichter is gone from the local scene, then, and only then, will the hoped-for HOF-VP have a good chance of succeeding.
Those folks obviously see Lichter and the barrier he seems to embody of keeping the HOF-VP stagnate as being Satan Stu.
However, Hall Fame official C. David Baker likely remains a big fan of Lichter and probably addresses him as Saint Stu given this Repository article about the duo in July 2016.
Repository publisher Jim Porter and the likes of Denny Saunier (president, Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce), the SCPR thinks, are likely to be advocates of Saint Stu.
Here is Lichter of Industry Realty Group (IRG) Twitter page image which appears to be his (and, perhaps, HOF top official C. David Baker) originally envisioned expansion plan, to wit:
But as we all know, the project is nowhere near the evolving vision (i.e. started out at about $500 million (including a stadium rehab of $22 million) to a nearly $1 billion (including the incomplete stadium rehab of at least $139 million) which should be (according to numerous promises made by HOF connected officials) nearly finished in time for the 100th anniversary of the National Football League birth.
HOF officials had hoped to bring the 2020 NFL draft to Canton. That plan got modified to include Cleveland as the primary base for the draft with the third day in Canton, which plan, was rejected in early December 2018 inasmuch as Las Vegas was selected.
So far, it appears, approximately $200 million of a projected nearly $1 billion has been raised from the public (i.e. taxpayer money) and private sources.
And, from all appearances, is currently stopped "dead in its tracks" while the M. Klein financial group works feverishly to find some $800 million to complete the project as envisioned or, of course, a lesser amount if the project is in the process of being scaled down, which, The Report is told is the reality.
For instance, the original plan called for a 5-star hotel to be built on the HOF Village site. Now, sources say the-hotel-to-be-built plan has been scaled down to a 3-star hotel.
Take a look at this Google search listing in order to get a sense of complaints made against Lichter/IRG over the years on previous projects he has embarked on.
We should not forget the troubles (LINK) the HOF-VP ran into in paying contractors who worked on Phase I on the project.
So if it is true that Lichter is buying the McKinley Grand the question is: A Good or Bad thing for Canton and Stark County?
From a Google search: There is a lot of difference between a 5-star hotel and a 3-star hotel. A 5-star hotel is a live expression of lavishness and luxury. Whereas a 3-star hotel is meant for travelers who can compromise a bit on facilities offered at the hotel in exchange for more relaxed and reasonable rates.
- One-star hotels: average $80, ...
- Two-star hotels: average $112, ...
- Three-star hotels: average $171, ...
- Four-star hotels: average $289, ...
- Five-star hotels: average $436, ...
According to Yelp, The McKinley Grand is rated at 2.5-stars.
Currently, The McKinley Grand brings in about $117,000 in property tax revenues to Stark County political subdivisions.
Here is the valuation history going back 10 years.
If one were to ask North Canton Mayor David Held, he might well say that it is a bad thing.
Why is that?
Because, Held, who was an enthusiast for Lichter when he agreed to purchase the shutdown Hoover complex, was hopeful that Licher's arrival on the scene would be a successful repurposing of the complex.
LINK & see excerpt below
California developer Stuart Lichter swept up the vacant Hoover Co. campus at a bargain price Monday - paying $5 million for a property that, when occupied, might have fetched four times that. (emphasis added)
It has probably dawned on HOF officialdom that there is absolutely no way the average National Football League fan could afford to stay at a 5-star hotel.
And besides that, it is likely that Klein et al are having trouble getting financing for a 5-star. David Baker himself has said there is no way that the private sector would finance a somewhere of the neighborhood (when it is completed) $150 million football stadium.
Even a 3-star hotel might be beyond the means of HOF attendees especially if a family with several children.
A return on investment for a 3-star HOF sited hotel might be hard to come by, no"
Of course, it will take generations to get a return on investment on a $150 million outlay in Canton, Ohio even if there is a large increase of visitors (now said by the Stark County Regional Planning Commission to be about 300,000 a year) coming to Canton.
Canton City Schools are finding out that it is taking forever to get the districts Football Operations Center (includes a locker room in replacement to the one torn down).
For those readers who want a fuller understanding of North Canton's frustration with Lichter, the SCPR blog of July 16, 2018, is a good starting place should go to the SCPR blog of July 16, 2018, in which Mayor Held speaks on video of his frustrations on the delayed development of the Hoover complex.
At the initial Strengthening Stark meeting in January 2018 on the encouragement of Stark County commissioner Janet Creighton "to let it all hang out" (a paraphrase), Held tied into HOF officials and by implication Stuart Lichter in suggesting that $30 million in federal EB-5 money had been diverted from the Hoover complex project to the HOF VP.
Held and council members have to be frustrated with Lichter.
Undoubtedly, there has to be more at this date in 2019 than the $6.7 million alleged by North Canton citizen activist Chuck Osborne alleged in August 2014 that North Canton has poured into the Hoover project.
Note: From North Canton councilman-at-large Daryl Revolt
Re North Canton and Meyers, the CIC purchased the cranes but still owns them. The investment paid for itself within 4 years. Value of used cranes was about half of purchase price. DRRecently, the Shroer Group announced that it was relocating from the former Hoover facilities thereby taking some 300 jobs from North Canton.
Frustrating indeed, no?
If Lichter is, in fact, buying the McKinley Grand, Cantonians ought to be bracing themselves for him to ask for property tax relief and some money from Canton taxpayers in the form of a grant or otherwise.
Back in 2015, Canton City Council did pony up $5 million towards the HOF-VP.
The question has always been on the HOF-VP, the Hoover project and, now, perhaps, a Stuart Lichter hotel owned hotel in the heart of downtown Canton is something will be beneficial or not.
If approached by Lichter, local government officials for local government grants or ways to funnel money into the $12 million rehab; they need to make sure that it is a "no-brainer" in terms of any such public investment paying off down the line.
If the project is a completely "private" investment matter, then Godspeed to Lichter and any other private sector investors who might be forking out $12 million.
Bottom line is that Canton mayor Thomas Bernabei and Canton City Council are likely to be thinking of Lichter as St Stu if the purchase becomes a reality.
Nevertheless, there are plenty of others in Stark County who as a reaction to the dealings they have had with him, view him as Satan Stu.
Which side do you fall on?
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