We are hearing the YMCA may walk away from any further negotiations for the Maritime Park and will put its proposed new downtown Y on hold.
For Councilmembers Charles Bare, Sherri Myers and Jewel Cannada-Wynn, this will be seen as a victory–as it is for CMPA board members Fred Gunther, Mark Taylor and Jim Reeves.
Now what? How long will it take for the real estate broker to deliver a lease for a tenant for parcel 8? Will that tenant get the same treatment as the Y? Will the city ever figure out how to deal with any lease for the CMPA without all this melodrama?
Being the ones who stop a deal is easy, but what projects and tenants can they deliver to the park? That will be challenge for Bare, Myers, Cannada-Wynn, Gunther, Taylor and Reeves.
What is the ideal lease for them? Will any one sign it?
Maybe it’s time for Mark Taylor to present his aircraft carrier proposal to the CMPA and show us how he will pay for it, what the lease payments will be and how he plans to handle parking.
I feel sorry for the Y board, who were vilified throughout this messy process. They followed the process Mayor Ashton Hayward told them to follow. They thought they had Hayward’s support which is why they even attempted to lease parcel 8. It was an opportunity for the mayor to show leadership.