The Herald offered a retraction. How nice of them. But it does open a new topic that might best be explored at this time.Apparently, Cypress Equities seeks to construct mulit-family housing. This could be apartments or condominiums. Either way, people will be living on the site and paying a portion of their housing expenses toward a periodically-adjusted ground lease. In the current housing market, this may not pencil out very well. Would a bank loan money to a potential condo buyer if their mortgage and associated ground lease payment was variable? What would happen if the condo buyer financed their purchase with a variable interest rate? They might achieve compounded variability.
If the multi-family housing development was an apartment complex, then one developer (Cypress or a designee) would have to construct a rather large and fairly expensive housing structure without owning the dirt upon which it rests. This could create a problem for those interested in determining potential cash flow. Investments usually yield income. Building an apartment complex on leased land can only mean that someone is getting screwed. By default, it is routinely the public sector. The devil is in the details.
If you want to determine just how far we are being led astray, ask the District to provide written assurance - signed by the Board of Directors - that no portion of the Lynnwood High School site will be sold to anyone, at anytime for any price. The Board sought funding through a capital construction bond with the understanding that Lynnwood High School will be ground leased. Now that the bond has passed, the District will quickly roll out the excuses and make claims that they had their fingers crossed.
7 comments:
I will sue if this happens, its my money not theirs.
King5 would like this one too.
Assurances from the Board should include any and all types of conveyances - like an outright gift. Gifting public assets is not unusual for this board.
It's like the people who built homes on the land that they leased from the Tulalips. Now the tribe wants their land back--no more leasing of prime waterfront. The home owners have to move their homes, destroy the home or abandon the home.
My mother always said, "Don't build on any land unless you own that land."
Didn't see that coming? "Changing market forces, keeping up with the changes, must remain flexible, blah, blah."
I am not sure if abandoning your home when a ground lease expires is an option. Normally, you would have to restore the asset to its original condition.
Of course, I don't suppose they would demolish a 99 year old mall and rebuild a high school when the District's lease expires. That is... if they don't need the space for educational purposes before then.
Yes, Public Gift, I wouldn't put it past this board to give away public resources. Perhaps they can be persuaded to give away a few of our precious administrators.
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