Project X

[GRDadof3]

Yep, we have had some very beliveable info which was researchable and that was done. They did not tell us everything, but most of it. I think the only question is how committed those names were; I had no way to verify that. We operated on the merits of the brokers involved, both highly qualified. Bill is arguably the most noteworthy and trusted broker in this community and has been for a couple decades.

This Duane Faust thing... that name was not presented to us but if it had been we would have researched it and there would be apartments in our buildings by now.

Aha, thank you for proving my point Eric. You guys (those under CA) didn't even know about Duane Faust. There is much we haven't seen yet.

[Rizzo]

Holy crap Terra, I missed your post, thank you for elaborating.

[GRDadof3]

OK, if we are to believe that Duane Faust's vision is "the total package", then we are to believe that these people got behind it with what we've been shown so far:

David Minkin, an attorney who founded and grew Greenberg Traurig to a multinational law office,

An Atlanta PR firm, and the local PR firm of Lambert Edwards (who has worked with just about every reputable business in Grand Rapids)

Bill Bowling and Deborah Shurlow, who have been important and respected business people in Grand Rapids for many years

Mayor George Heartwell, and Commissioner James White (amongst others),

Suzanne Geha, who knows the details and who can barely contain herself when interviewing these people,

and that this RiverGrand was going to be built as presented without one single letter of intent,

So, you can choose to believe that Duane Faust is a big scam artist and hoodwinked ALL these people with the ESNA report we saw, or...

you can believe that there is A LOT we haven't seen yet.

Which is the more likely scenario?

[jrwquattro]

the ESNA report we saw, or...

you can believe that there is A LOT we haven't seen yet.

While the current "news" is less tha exiciting without a large business draw for the program, I still go back and wonder about decisions that we already see in place such as:

- Why a JW Marriot in GR?

- The decision to expand the airport with covered parking despite losing airlines?

There has to be more to this than Faust...

[Phizzy]

Which is the more likely scenario?

As I wrote earlier...

Or perhaps Faust is simply taking GR and "they" for a ride.

The more I think about it, the more unsure I feel about Faust.

Do you think Faust would be able to take Heartwell, Grubb & Ellis, David Minkin, et al. for a ride? Perhaps, but it seems unlikely.

[torgo]

Thanks go to GRDad and TF for keeping everybody sane!

Its obvious that there lots that we don't know. We all pretend to know a lot, as does the media, but I think they know about as much as we do, if not less.

[downhill-racer]

OK, if we are to believe that Duane Faust's vision is "the total package", then we are to believe that these people got behind it with what we've been shown so far:

David Minkin, an attorney who founded and grew Greenberg Traurig to a multinational law office,

An Atlanta PR firm, and the local PR firm of Lambert Edwards (who has worked with just about every reputable business in Grand Rapids)

Bill Bowling and Deborah Shurlow, who have been important and respected business people in Grand Rapids for many years

Mayor George Heartwell, and Commissioner James White (amongst others),

Suzanne Geha, who knows the details and who can barely contain herself when interviewing these people,

and that this RiverGrand was going to be built as presented without one single letter of intent,

So, you can choose to believe that Duane Faust is a big scam artist and hoodwinked ALL these people with the ESNA report we saw, or...

you can believe that there is A LOT we haven't seen yet.

Which is the more likely scenario?

Which is the more likely scenario?

until we see the a-team

i give a better than 50 /50 chance that this is hot air

dhr

[terra firma]

Thanks go to GRDad and TF for keeping everybody sane!

Its obvious that there lots that we don't know. We all pretend to know a lot, as does the media, but I think they know about as much as we do, if not less.

I don't know enough to "keep you sane" as I said, all I know is some parts look funny still so we're back on the market.

Hot and cold roller coaster ride.

It certainly is an interesting time to be involved in downtown real estate...

[downhill-racer]

As I wrote earlier...

Do you think Faust would be able to take Heartwell, Grubb & Ellis, David Minkin, et al. for a ride? Perhaps, but it seems unlikely.

that's the only a-team player i have seen in this deal so far

now have universal step up

dhr

[downhill-racer]

I don't know enough to "keep you sane" as I said, all I know is some parts look funny still so we're back on the market.

Hot and cold roller coaster ride.

It certainly is an interesting time to be involved in downtown real estate...

well

you are real money

custer is real

like it or not london is real

so it will happen on market st. but it maybe local

dhr

[Rizzo]

TerraFirma: discouraging me...

I know your covering bases, but its saying: "Yah, I'll option this land to you, oh yah I'm putting my properties on the market just in case " I don't know a damn thing about this thing, so if this comes of as childish, sorry. That's the preception... Public opinion is a powerful thing and I'm waiting for Wood to report that TerraFirma has put its properties back up for sale, know what I mean?

[francishsu]

I don't know enough to "keep you sane" as I said, all I know is some parts look funny still so we're back on the market.

Hot and cold roller coaster ride.

It certainly is an interesting time to be involved in downtown real estate...

And sure enough, I see the property listed in MLS. In fact, I saw two entries that now appear to be combined into one. Must be nice to be able to update those listings at will!

$6.5 million? A bit more than I can afford!

[GRDadof3]

well

you are real money

custer is real

like it or not london is real

so it will happen on market st. but it maybe local

dhr

I don't know of anyone "local" that's got that kind of coin. I don't see Mr. and Mrs. Alticor being interested in working on such a massive project either (redeveloping the city-owned land).

[ClownFromThe60s]

Allright, so what are some possible reasons this project is so secretive? Would a major corporation moving to this GR development want to keep things under wraps? Maybe. Any other ideas why this is so rediculously secretive? Because it's not normal for it to be like this...

[civitas]

So, you can choose to believe that Duane Faust is a big scam artist and hoodwinked ALL these people with the ESNA report we saw, or...

you can believe that there is A LOT we haven't seen yet.

Which is the more likely scenario?

I love this guy . He represent the dance that every developer does at the beginning of every complex project.

In the beginning there is an idea and absolutely nothing else is real. There are, however, hundreds of people that will need to be convinced that the project is real before it can become real. Development isn't easy work and requires the very careful positioning of the smoke and mirrors <g>.

Most developers start with land control. It is done quietly to avoid price increases. It is the first step because your idea is worthless if you don't control the land and because someone could beat you to the land if they heard your idea and liked it. Ideally the land is optioned (as opposed to purchased) to avoid paying for property before all the other ducks are in a row.

Once the land is controlled you have to line up tenants/purchasers, lenders/equity partners and community support. You can see what happens if any one of them suspects that the project isn't real for any reason.

There are many "deal killers" along the way. For instance, as things progess an implementation strategy will evolve. One strategy for this project hinged on the city's willingness to defer the payment for $35,000,000 worth of land for 3 years. The project might not be able to recover from the mayor's refusal to consider such a plan. Lack of tenants will kill the project (no one will finance a speculative development). I suspect that community support (zoning) would not be a problem.

So is this project real? It is probably as real as it can be at this point (at least the smoke and mirrors are real) and it will become really real only when the dancing "X" obtains his financing and major tenants.

There is a lot that we haven't seen yet (although we have seen some fairly serious setbacks). It is very possible, however, that we have seen about everything that is available at this point in the dance.

[Rizzo]

I believe Connections are being played the most here. It's not like Faust could walk up to a bank or some kind of institution and persuade them to relocate or invest in millions into Grand Rapids. No one else has invested this kind of money into this kind of development before in GR so why now? There is obiviously no market otherwise it would have been seized up already. Just based on his track record I think he would be laughed out of the office. I know if money is my game I would tell Faust to think of smaller things and tell him to have a nice ride home.

I give Faust credit he walks great and looks the part, I definently want to see how he reacts to the media and the local folks in front of the camera... I don't want to put my energy in judging, but rather seeing what he has in store for Grand Rapids.

Civitas, There will be no deferment, Faust plans on paying 35 mill in cash for the city lot.

[GRDadof3]

I love this guy . He represent the dance that every developer does at the beginning of every complex project.

I can't believe I found him doing a google image search for "the letter x". He's almost perfect for this:

FooFoo X crack addict

Project X developer dance

Hip Hop "X Records" dancing mascot

all in one.

You raise some good points civitas.

[terra firma]

well

you are real money

Nope, not "real money" just "borrowed money" - my lender would love that quote.

Faust ? Well that's "I borrowed money and couldn't pay it back" Public record: IRS liens, State of California liens of $850k according to several news sources? Please. News reported he has a 1.3 house with 1.0 of debt. Add up the above story and you have a guy with a negative net worth unless he's got some game that we haven't seen.

Did you see his office ? I saw stacks of crap on the desk but no stacks of money. My personal opinion only, have no specific knowledge...

Faust is not even remotely qualified in my opinion. Then again I've done deals I was not qualified for.

The names I heard when I signed the confidentiality agreement have not been heard yet, and that means they either pulled the plug and are hiding behind Faust or are about to make a 'real' announcement.

This thing ain't happening is my guess. Again, only my opinion if they show up with money I'll sign up. But-- I'm a total skeptic.

I've re-read my confidentiality agreement a couple times, that's why I keep saying "in my opinion."

Sorry for the waste of bandwidth on those 3 words....

[PBJ]

Any of our "media" readers wanna fess up who the Atlanta PR Firm is? I'm making an educated guess that it's Edelman. But I can't confirm it just yet. They ranked as one of the best in the country (maybe world) and deal with some of the big players we've discussed (Centex Homes, DreamWorks among others), and have offices in every major us market (all of which have been tied in theory to this project). I just haven't heard who they are specifically even though several media sources here in GR have stated an Atlanta Firm.

[AlexPKeaton]

I don't know of anyone "local" that's got that kind of coin. I don't see Mr. and Mrs. Alticor being interested in working on such a massive project either (redeveloping the city-owned land).

Especially true seeing as they've been sitting on the Market and Fulton lot for so long. They don't need to buy the city land if they wanted to do a major project.

-nb

[civitas]

This thing ain't happening is my guess. Again, only my opinion if they show up with money I'll sign up. But-- I'm a total skeptic.

I've re-read my confidentiality agreement a couple times, that's why I keep saying "in my opinion."

Sorry for the waste of bandwidth on those 3 words....

I find it significant that he paid a few hundred thousand dollars for a 15-day option that was not exercised. He learned something during those 15 days that caused him to let the London deal go (along with his option money).

The fact that he paid that much for an option tells us that he fully expected to close on the deal. Why didn't he?

[MiGuyz]

Buy the domain name for $613

http://rivergrand.seeq.com/seeq/20051013te...d.com&referrer=

Doesn't seem to be for sale anymore. Ok, who here bought it?

[vexom]

Doesn't seem to be for sale anymore. Ok, who here bought it?

I noticed that too but I think that they simply noticed a sharp increase in hits and decided they would try to make money from the traffic.

[Rizzo]

http://www.rivergrand.com/ Looks like the guy is trying to turn profit... A judge will see right through that site.

[GRDadof3]

Forget about all this, didn't you guys hear there was an explosion in Douglas: