Plan circulating among convention center creditors
By Kathryn Reed
A plan for the long stalled convention center in South Lake Tahoe could be unveiled in August.
Owens Financial, the largest creditor involved in the bankruptcy, has taken the lead role in trying to come up with a resolution that everyone can live with. Several meetings have been conducted involving the various parties.
No work has occurred on the would-be convention center in years. Photo/Kathryn Reed
Lake Tahoe Development Company out of Zephyr Cove filed for bankruptcy last fall after it had put in the foundation and some rebar on the 11-plus acre site near Stateline.
Randy Lane, principal of LTDC, earlier this year thought he had lined up someone up to take over what was supposed to be a $410 million convention center-two hotel-retail complex.
“The last deal the company said they would offer X and they offered Y. They thought they could do whatever they wanted because no one else was out there,” Lane told Lake Tahoe News. “Maybe no one is out there who will step up to build today or tomorrow, but the dynamics have not changed and the location has not changed.”
Lane said Owens Financial has a plan that is being discussed among the creditors, but consensus is still needed. He expects a decision could come in a few weeks.
He doesn’t expect to go back to court until someone has a plan to present to the judge.
“I’m very grateful creditors say they are not going to take pennies on the dollar. They see value in this project,” Lane said.
Here we go again
It’s not the project that has value. It’s the location of the property.
Applied Development Economics who were retained to develop a basin-wide prosperity plan, have been holding a series of public workshops to help identify our primary economic ‘clusters’ and how to grow them. With gaming no longer a primary economic driver, the top 3 clusters that emerged from this process and which are responsible for 66% of the regions economic activity are: visitor services/tourism, health and wellness and green business and environmental innovation. At the last workshop on Thursday, the overall vision that emerged is that our region needs to reinvent itself as the environmental business and world sustainability leader….a powerhouse of the science of environmental study and restoration, advanced health and wellness programs, green building and redevelopment and geotourism. One specific project that is being touted as a cornerstone of that is the Alpine Climate/ Sustainability Science Technology Center. I can’t think of a better use for the faild convention center location than this. An environmentally built and economically sustainable science and education center at the most visitor dense location in the basin. When does reconstruction start?
Mr. Wendell’s idea gets my vote.
How about a museum with all of the idiots who should not have been elected to office in South Lake Tahoe. We could set up pie throwing stations offering Ted Long part time work in between his stints at local office.