Where did the 22 million dollars go?
In the final days of South Knox Bubba’s blog a thread concerning the Worlds Fair Site project in Knoxville was generating a lot of attention. The controversy was whether Kinsey Probasco Associates of Chattanooga should be allowed to purchase City assets of the Candy Factory, The Sunsphere, and 7 Victorian homes next to the Candy Factory. KPA had done the work on the 2002/2045 Market Square project but had not kept their commitment to invest 22 million dollars of private investment in condos and offices around the Market Square.
KPA submitted the winning proposal for the purchase of the assets at the Worlds Fair Site but at the first workshop people objected because KPA did not follow through with the key part of the private investment for the Market Square project. A study was presented from Will Malone who had done consulting with the City back in 2002 for the Market Square project. More about that study later. Others objected that the Candy Factory was a unique meeting center in downtown Knoxville that served the arts community and many other groups that would have difficulty is finding meetings spaces. When it was learned that the 7 Victorian houses were only being valued at $ 31,000.00 each members of City Council said they would buy the homes for that price. People including State Rep. Stacey Campfield started sending in unsolicited cash offers to KCDC for the Victorian Homes.
I want to look at the process that was used for selecting KPA on the Market Square project and find out what happened. Some where between the proposal phase and the contract phase the requirement for the 22 million dollars of private investment fell through the cracks. That is not good government. The taxpayers need for someone to dig a little deeper.
