01-28-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Kevin Carroll 410 January 22, 1999 Page 2 BACKGROUND The Mermaid was originally purchased by a business controlled by Charles Hall more than twenty (20) years ago. The original business was owned and operated by the Mermaid Cocktail Lounge, Inc., a corporation which is now known as "Moundsvista, Inc." That corporation is controlled by Charles Hall who owns a majority of the issued and outstanding stock of that corporation. The remaining minority interests in the corporation are owned by the children of Charles Hall. In the late 1980s operation of the Mermaid was assumed by the Mermaid, Inc., a corporation which is owned by the.children of Charles Hall and has been led by Daniel L. Hall as its President. The Mermaid, Inc. leases the land, improvements and fixtures from Moundsvista. Both Moundsvista and the Mermaid have attempted to run their business in a fiscally conservative manner and have worked hard to keep debt at low levels to reduce operating costs and to allow them to continue to improve the Mermaid complex. DEVELOPER . The Developer of the hotel and banquet center is owned and controlled by Charles and Daniel Hall. In order to further the financing of the project and to provide for an integrated management and ownership of the entire Mermaid Complex, it is proposed that the Developer acquire existing . real estate and improvements of Moundsvista, Inc. and the additional sites owned by unrelated parties that will be necessary to accommodate the proposed Project. TRANSACTION In order to facilitate the Project and financing, it is proposed that the Developer acquire the existing real estate and improvements of Moundsvista together with several adjacent tracts. The Developer has not yet-reached-an agreementwithadjacent-property owners as-to-the acquisition ; cost. Under any analysis, the costs of acquiring the adjacent properties will be substantial. The financial materials and projected project costs already submitted to the City included allocations of land cost to the hotel component of the Project, as well as the banquet component of the Project. These projections represented earlier conceptual project designs that would have provided for separate tracts for each of the hotel, banquet center and the existing Mermaid complex to facilitate separate ownership and operation. Under the current proposal, the hotel,. banquet center and existing Mermaid complex are to be operated as one integral unit located on one site with common ownership and management. Accordingly, the land costs are no longer being allocated to each of the specific components of the Project. The allocation of land costs on the earlier projection were an effort to demonstrate the level of commitment of the Developer • to the City. In fact, under the current proposal, the commitment of my client is greater. In other words, the entire interest in the Mermaid complex together with the adjacent properties that will