Fairgrounds to be sold to City of Del Mar?

[Igeteven]

Thanks Mary

I wish Bob would read first before posting

[Bob B]

Thanks Mary

I wish Bob would read first before posting

What do you mean by that comment? I wish your postings made sense. Feel free to point out anything I posted that is incorrect or misinformed. I welcome the opportunity to debate any matter with you.

[MaryS]

As the World Turns...

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/oct/08/go ... -mar-sale/

Governor Back Pedals On Del Mar Sale

By Kyla Calvert

October 8, 2010

SAN DIEGO — Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared to back pedal on a deal to sell the state-owned Del Mar fairgrounds during an appearance in San Diego Friday. A bill introduced and withdrawn from the state senate earlier this week spelled out the property’s sale.

That bill was co-authored by Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña and Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) and named the buyer and price for the Del Mar racetrack and fairgrounds. It authorized the state’s department of general services to sell the land to the city of Del Mar for $120 million.

Despite that specific language, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told reporters at a press conference that questioning the sale price or process was jumping the gun.

“We are not really at all at that place yet where we say OK, let’s go ahead and sell that," he said. "It’s going through its process, the locals have to be happy with the whole thing. So there’s various different people who are negotiating, who are looking into it.”

Critics have said the deal was brokered between Schwarzenegger's office and the city behind closed doors. Some estimate the oceanfront property is worth between $800 million and $1 billion.

The bill authorizing the sale is now likely to be considered next month during a special legislative session.

Kehoe said the sale is an opportunity to maintain public ownership of the historic property and that the city of Del Mar has been interested since Schwarzenegger proposed selling state properties including the fairgrounds in 2009.

“When that happened the city of Del Mar said, 'What if this calls into private hands?'" she said. "The future of horse racing in California is very uncertain right now. Some of the tracks are closing, Santa Anita is in bankruptcy.”

Under the agreement outlined in the bill, the property would be managed by a board made up of representatives from Del Mar, Solana Beach, the City of San Diego and San Diego County. The fairgrounds are currently managed by a board made up of governor appointees.

[ScrapingThePaint]

To put this all in perspective, here is what has been going on in the attempt to sell the Orange County Fairgrounds.

In January 2010, it was announced that the OC Fairgrounds would be sold to a private company, Craig Realty Group (who developed the Cabazon and Citadel Outlet malls) for $56.5 million. At that time, State officials were estimating that the Fairgrounds could potentially sell for $90 million to $180 million.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/stat ... ounds.html

In March 2010, the Legislature rejected the bid, saying that it was too low. It rejected all the other bids, saying that none of them obtained the highest and most certain return for the State.
http://www.laindependent.com/news/regio ... 18507.html

In June 2010, the voters in Costa Mesa overwhelmingly passed a measure (Measure C) restricting the development of the Fairgrounds property, in an attempt to discourage buyers from turning it into shopping malls and condominiums. It was also thought that those restrictions would lower the perceived value of the land. Yet, the State put a minimum bid requirement of $96 million on the property.

Since Costa Mesa is governed by debt limitation statutes, they could not submit a $96 million bid. But in June 2010, they chose to partner with a private firm, Fairgrounds Management West (FMW) who would lease the property from the City of Costa Mesa in a 55 year agreement, and pay the full price of the fairgrounds to the State over a 40 year period. FMW would operate the grounds as a fair and events center. In return the City would get an estimated $750,000 - $3.2million in revenue per year.

An agreement was met with the Governator’s office, which encouraged Del Mar City Councilwoman Crawford in regards to existing negotiations to buy the Del Mar Fairgrounds for the City of Del Mar.
http://www.delmartimes.net/news/271288- ... airgrounds

But the Legislature stalled on this one too, and in August 2010, the California Department of General Services put out another Request for Proposal to sell the OC Fairgrounds.

In September 2010, the 32nd DAA, operator of the Fairgrounds, challenged the State’s authority to sell the land without getting approval from the 32nd DAA. According to their lawyers, the land was purchased with half the funds coming from the State’s Fair and Exposition Fund, who got their money from racing revenues, not from general state funds or general taxes. The other half of the money was put up by the 32nd DAA, who they claim holds the title. They also claimed that the title is so cloudy, it is not clear if or how it can even be transferred.
http://ns.ocfair.com/ocfadmin/admin/Pub ... erials.pdf

They sent a letter to the Governator about it all. http://www.ocfair.com/ocf/092010LettertotheGovernor.pdf

Meanwhile, as all this was going on, FMW pulled an end run and submitted a $96 million bid on its own, independent from the City of Costa Mesa. According to this article, the bid meets the requirements of the most recent RFP.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/city ... state.html

So there you are. Ten months into the process, and it’s still one big tangled, political mess.

If the events in OC are any indication, it seems that the sale of the Del Mar Fairgrounds to the City of Del Mar or anybody else is not going to happen overnight.

Just as a curiosity – the Del Mar Fairgrounds website says that the property was purchased using money from the California Fair and Exposition Fund (just like the OC Fairgrounds) and funds from the Fair Board of the 22nd DAA.

Would the 22nd DAA have to approve the sale of the Del Mar Fairgrounds to the City of Del Mar?