Brew: Cordish wants $3 million rent relief at harbor
From Baltimore Brew. The whole story is here:
Power Plant and Power Plant Live, two popular Inner Harbor tourist attractions, are in financial trouble and owner David S. Cordish wants Baltimore to forfeit $3 million in annual rent payments to help bail them out.In return for the rent reduction, Cordish pledges to invest $16 million in the properties, which are about 40 percent vacant and face “serious challenges” in attracting retail and office tenants, Cordish told the Baltimore Development Corp. (BDC) today. (The glut in office space downtown has become widespread, leading to near record levels of office vacancies.)
UPDATE: From The Sun's story:
The Cordish Cos. pay the city $1,000 a year in rent for the 161,000-square-foot Power Plant complex, which includes about 45,000 square feet of retail space. Cordish has proposed that abatements come from the rent the company pays on two nearby properties: The ground rent for land beneath the Pier 4 Power Plant Annex, for which it pays $129,000 a year, and the ground rent under the Pier 6 garage. City officials said they did not have an immediate figure for how much rent Cordish pays for the garage.In response to the Cordish Cos. request, the BDC directors made a recommendation to be forwarded to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. The recommendation was made in closed session, and the terms were not disclosed afterwards.
Comments
"Cordish pays the city $1,000 a year in rent plus 22 percent of net profits for the 161,000-square-foot Power Plant complex...net profits amounted to $9,800 in 2009"
They managed to turn what is traditionally one of a firm's biggest fixed costs into a variable cost. Talk about too big to fail. They paid $263/mo in rent for 2009. Whose campaign do I have to fund to get this deal? I'm confident an open market auction to rent the property would yield a much higher price.
Posted by: Josh Dowlut | June 24, 2011 3:37 AM