Not living there yet, I have been trying to keep up with this story for a while but it is certainly difficult. I have to say that IMO this deal smells. The following is just my opinion, mind you, but anyone can look at the public records to see the facts.
Easley had the opportunity to write off $8m of debt for $5.5 in a land swap deal with J & W. Would any of you pass on the chance to save $2.5m for your kids??? OK - even if for some reason the cash was needed right now, the last minute way in which things were done knocked other developers out of the loop that were ready to buy for $7m or more. Essentially, the change in deadline to the 21st from the 31st killed open bidding on the project because other developers could not get their cash for the downpayment that fast. So, at that, the Gov cost the taxpayers $1.5m. That's a lot of money to give away just to beat a deadline on a deal that had so many contingencies it could have been postponed anyway. There's probably more to the story that we'll never know and details that maymake this deal make perfect sense.
As an aside, do you know that Mr. Allen aka Trinity donated $8000 to the Gov's campaign in 2004? Do you know that that amount is as much as Bank Of America PAC donated? That's quite a bit of funding...
How convenient is it that a major campaign contributor was able to get contested property at an extreme dioscount in a last minute gov't maneuver. His downpayment was in place (the only one bidding to my knowledge) and, best of all, the final use of the property will be "renovated office space". How unique, creative and beneficial for the city...
Sorry to be a downer but it was very disappointing to see this happen.