Automation, if it makes you feel any better, it is not surprising to find out that the Louisville Museum Plaza will result only in fattening the children of lawyers, rather than any new impact on the Louisville skyline. As with so many of these projects that we've heard about recently, it's pretty much certainly not gonna get built.
Dispute over unpaid bills at Museum Plaza concerns some on Metro Council
Unpaid-bills flap concerns some on council
By Marcus Green
January 30, 2009
Some Louisville Metro Council members want to know whether a dispute over unpaid bills at Museum Plaza could hinder the city's use of publicly owned land.
Council member Hal Heiner, R-19th District, introduced a resolution at last night's meeting asking Jefferson County Attorney Mike O'Connell's office to give its opinion on how liens filed against the developers could affect the city's holdings.
The liens are legal filings that allow contractors to stake a claim on property for unsettled bills. Heiner said a legal opinion would clarify whether any claims against the Museum Plaza developers would transfer to the city, which owns much of the land where the skyscraper is planned.
The $490 million complex planned for Eighth Street and River Road has been delayed by higher borrowing costs the developers would face since the credit market crisis started.
Jim King, D-10th District and the council's former president, also sought an informal opinion from O'Connell's office over the weekend following news that general contractor M.A. Mortenson Co. had filed a lien for a $2.3 million claim.
Bill Patteson, an O'Connell spokesman, declined to comment, but King said he was told the developers would be responsible for any liens as part of their agreement with the city. Any response to Heiner's resolution would become a public document.
Louisville Economic Development Director Bruce Traughber said "there is no question based on past practice" that liens cannot be applied to city property. About $1.4 million of the liens stake a claim on city-owned property.
The property -- now owned by the city or city agencies -- eventually would be transferred to Museum Plaza's developers once the developers have secured financing and show the ability to complete the project, Traughber said.
Heiner's resolution also asks Mayor Jerry Abramson and Museum Plaza's developers to provide a written report of the project's status and urges Abramson to ask the developers to resolve the liens.
"When liens are filed on a property, it calls into question the business practices and the financial viability of the project," said Heiner, a frequent critic of the Museum Plaza deal.
The development would include privately financed buildings, in addition to street and other public improvements using taxpayer money. Metro government would borrow about $47 million through general obligation bonds.
Museum Plaza's developers -- arts patron Laura Lee Brown and her husband, Steve Wilson; developer Steve Poe; and attorney Craig Greenberg -- dispute the amount of the Mortenson claim. Greenberg declined to discuss other details of the liens, including how they may be resolved.
"It's unfortunate that Councilman Heiner continues to put roadblocks in the way of progress and job creation," Greenberg said. "There are enough challenges today outside of our control and community to get this project under way."
Heiner said he is worried that certain milestones, such as the completion of construction drawings, in the city's agreement with the Museum Plaza developers aren't being met.
Greenberg said those drawings are in the advanced stages and noted that the project has received all of the permits needed for construction to start.
"The delay has everything to do with the financing markets," he said.