By: Diane Benjamin
Monday night the Bloomington City Council will hear a proposal from David Bentley. He wants to turn the Pantagraph building into a boutique hotel.
Tari Renner discussed the idea Tuesday on WGLT: http://wglt.org/post/bloomington-mayor-cautious-about-potential-developer
City Manager David Hales mentioned at the last Council meeting Jeff Giebelhausen would also make a presentation. (http://blnnews.com/2015/10/13/next-monday-your-destruction-continues/) We don’t know if Bentley and Giebelhausen are working together or if they have separate proposals.
One thing is for sure: Anything they propose will be at taxpayer expense.
According to both the McLean County Assessors website and the Recorder’s website, Bentley has NOT completed the purchase of the Pantagraph Building. So far it has only been reported in the newspaper.
Here’s some facts:
Tari claimed on WGLT that Bentley has spent $1,000,000 suing the City over TIF district funds. Tari – how much did Bently cost Bloomington taxpayers in legal fees?
David Bently has owned the CII East building since June of 2012. (according to Recorder’s website) It is still an eyesore right in the heart of the City. (102 S East)
According to the Secretary of States website, Bentley does business under the name DTB Holdings:
http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/CorporateLlcController (Click VIEW)
David Bentley also does business under the name Devyn Corporation: http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/CorporateLlcController
These properties are listed on the McLean County Assessor’s office website under Devyn Corporation:
| 21-04-345-004 | 118 S EAST BLOOMINGTON IL 61701 (Parking lot?) | |
| 21-04-345-005 | 102 S EAST BLOOMINGTON IL 61701 (CII East) | |
| 21-04-350-002 | 201 E GROVE Bloomington IL 61701 (United Way office, plus others) | |
| 21-04-413-018 | 103 S PRAIRIE BLOOMINGTON IL 61701 (Warehouse/Industrial) | |
| 21-04-417-005 | 307 E GROVE BLOOMINGTON IL 61701 (Clay Dooley) |
The last Giebelhausen deal proved to be a disaster for taxpayers. http://blnnews.com/2015/05/04/giebelhausen-crony-capitalism/
Bentley’s credibility is questionable because of his lawsuit against the City and the condition of the CII East Building.
Did Giebelhausen team up with Bentley for credibility?
Appearing somewhere in this mix is another consultant, Steve Friedman. http://blnnews.com/2015/10/13/next-monday-your-destruction-continues/
Are these three making a presentation to the Council supporting Tari’s rhetoric of “Bloomington can’t succeed without a prosperous downtown”?
Of course, if this project was feasible YOUR money wouldn’t be needed.
Add one more thing to the mix. WGLT reported on the annual Chamber of Commerce event held this week: http://wglt.org/post/working-together-change-state-mclean-county
Bloomington, Normal, and McLean County are now working together to get McLean County “back on track”.
More facts:
Bloomington government didn’t fund pensions properly, leading to massive payments now.
Normal government put their citizens $80 million+ in debt and plans more.
Bloomington and Normal haven’t spent enough on roads to make them drive-able.
Bloomington government gifted citizens with the Coliseum.
Bloomington government gifted the citizens with the BCPA.
Bloomington threw away more the $1.2 million on pension spiking.
Bloomington has a multi-million dollar unused fire station.
Bloomington has a cost undetermined unused water tower because it’s not tall enough.
Normal has astronomically increased taxes and fees.
Bloomington has increased taxes and fees and still can’t balance their budget.
McLean County makes sure citizens have no idea what they do – Zero transparency.
These are the people who think they can create economic prosperity at your expense.
I’m sure the list could be much longer.
Instead of Needs before Wants and providing essential services economically, government wants to TELL you the future. Government plans have a bad history. The BCPA hasn’t been around that long, but this government would sell it if they could. Tari has said he wishes the Coliseum was never built.
Add a Boutique Hotel to the future boondoggle list.
There’s a reason this country was founded adverse to government. History.
As of about 2 years ago Bentley had spent about $250K on suing the city. I think Tari is full of shite! A boutique hotel in BLM, LoL! Someone (probably the citizens) will lose their shirt on this venture. Hows the Chateau doing these days?
So the State of IL says that it is out of money and will give $600 and higher lottery winners an IOU. Pensioners are set not to get paid. As everything around him burns, Renner fiddles while walking around with a gas can.
I think that the problem with these idealistic (one step forward, two steps back) Renner led potted plant progressives is that they are oblivious to, or completely ignore reality. As they press that utopia is achievable on the backside they pocket the change. And I smell a rat!
What the hell is a “boutique hotel?”
Tiny. Maybe 10-20 rooms.
Much like the Clarke Hotel in downtown Waukesha, WI. A hotel with no nearby or on site parking. We’ve discussed that place in another blog recently.
What I don’t get is where are these people getting their money to finance these purchases and to pay the lawyers. Please let me know because maybe I need to quit what I do for a living and be doing the same.
Who thinks this is a good business decision? I just can’t see the need/want for it, at all.
If there was a reason for out of towners to come here, a botique hotel would do just fine. However, there is no reason to come here. The Route 66 museum is not going to draw enough people. Those museums are a dime a dozen. The coliseum or bcpa may draw a few people a couple times a year, but the shows are not unique enough.
Exactly.
My cousin came to Bloomington for a performance competition at the BCPA. The convention booked rooms the Marriot in Uptown. The participants were shuttled between the hotel and BCPA on buses. I don’t think a boutique hotel would have accommodated the group. So much for economic impact for downtown Bloomington.
BOO TEEQ hotel is where they buy the panty graph and use the OLD printing presses to press the shirts they are going to take off OUR backs! Just in time for Halloween, damn spooks!
IF a Boutique whatever was SUCH a good idea they’d be more numerous then McDonalds restaurants, and IF UPTOWN was such a great place, then WHY when a relate came “there” to apply for a job did they show said relate ALL the good stuff in BLOOMINGTON and go to LUNCH in Bloomington?
I noticed Steve Friedman’s power point shows photos of revitalization of Park Ridge and DesPlaines, suburbs of Chicago. Neither of there communities have any resemblance to Bloomington. They are “bedroom” communities whose residents work in Chicago’s downtown business district or somewhere outside of their town. They are major stops on the Chicago & Northwestern commuter train. The revitalization of those communities seems to be focused near the train stop and are more for the benefit of the locals–not to attract tourists. I know this because I used to commute to downtown Chicago from Mt.Prospect.
I agree. Tari is trying to make Bloomington look like Chicago. (Does he know what condition Chicago is in financially?)
When exclaiming that his $12,000 mayors salary doesn’t pay for his $8,000 property taxes Tari doesn’t know squat about economics. Tari the tyrant.
Much of Chicago is TIF-ed. The cost of living is burdensome. The schools are in shambles…beginning to sound like Bloomington. If the Mayor knew anything about finances, he wouldn’t have purchased a Corvette AND a Mustang without considering the long term economic impact. (cost of insurance, repair, gasoline…) The Mayor and Council don’t seem to consider the economic impact of spending supported by TIFs and Tax Abatements either. TIFs were first used in California in the early 1970s but after California’s near bankruptcy, TIFs are no longer allowed there.
Skunk: I never thought I would find myself defending Renner. But it is really none of your business what kind of car he drives, or how many vehicles he owns.
Forgive me for bringing up the Mayor’s personal financial choices. He proudly announced that information on WJBC just like he announced how this mayoral salary does not cover his property taxes at a Council meeting. The city would not have a $7.5M structural deficit if he made wise choices to control spending and considered the fiscal impact. The list of poor choices regarding the spending of taxpayer money is too long for this space and have already been discussed in detail.
I would hope that someone would do something constructive with the P-graph building as it is a great old building but I don’t want my taxes paying for it. Let the developer pay for his own great idea if it is so great.