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Riverfront Property Proposal(s)?

tony speller

By tony speller
in Grand Rapids

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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OK, with new details from Heartwell last night, this topic warrants re-opening. Heartwell spilled the beans of the confidentiality agreement last night and said that along with Faust, he met with executives of Universal Music and Entertainment who wanted to make RiverGrand into what alot the rumors were talking about: a mixed used village for the production of music, videos, games, and other entertainment media. He said that his impression was that Faust was not the main developer of the project. He has no idea where the other players went.

Asked if he would sign another confidentiality agreement for another "mystery development" and he said yes.

http://video.woodtv.com/index.php?video_id=5727

(you should get an "Interview with Mayor Hearwell")

That helps explain the rumor of the David Geffen Audiology Research Institute that might have been part of this. :huh:

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FlawlessDeveloper Unincorporated Area

FlawlessDeveloper

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OK, with new details from Heartwell last night, this topic warrants re-opening. Heartwell spilled the beans of the confidentiality agreement last night and said that along with Faust, he met with executives of Universal Music and Entertainment who wanted to make RiverGrand into what alot the rumors were talking about: a mixed used village for the production of music, videos, games, and other entertainment media. He said that his impression was that Faust was not the main developer of the project. He has no idea where the other players went.

Asked if he would sign another confidentiality agreement for another "mystery development" and he said yes.

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torgo Town

torgo

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OK, with new details from Heartwell last night, this topic warrants re-opening. Heartwell spilled the beans of the confidentiality agreement last night and said that along with Faust, he met with executives of Universal Music and Entertainment who wanted to make RiverGrand into what alot the rumors were talking about: a mixed used village for the production of music, videos, games, and other entertainment media. He said that his impression was that Faust was not the main developer of the project. He has no idea where the other players went.

Asked if he would sign another confidentiality agreement for another "mystery development" and he said yes.

http://video.woodtv.com/index.php?video_id=5727

(you should get an "Interview with Mayor Hearwell")

That helps explain the rumor of the David Geffen Audiology Research Institute that might have been part of this. :huh:

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snoogit Town

snoogit

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In my opinion the shame of this whole process is that someone (Faust) had a Great idea/vision. The city then tried to turn it into an RFP process.

The RFP should have been about selling the city property only, not the entire development. I think its all a moot point now, but did the JW Mariott or the Christman development on Michigan street have to go through an RFP process for the development phase?

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Rizzo City

Rizzo

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In the Street talk section of the GRBJ:

Other memorable developments that never were include Gustave Hendrick’s 34-story furniture market, Furniture Capitol, in 1926; Byron Kluesing’s 33-story Rainbow Towers in 1974; a Faison Associates office tower and retail atrium in 1988; the office tower at Lyon Street and Ottawa Avenue proposed by DP Fox and the Ellis family in 2000; and Jack Buchanan’s controversial Calder Plaza hotel proposed in 2003.
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FlawlessDeveloper Unincorporated Area

FlawlessDeveloper

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They probably received something with the same letterhead. :blush:

Here's my take on what went down, based on all the past year's drama:

The whole idea was Faust's to do this development and the Universal Village

He had friends in the music business, and some of them had Grand Rapids roots

Working together, they came up with a refined vision

He was able to smooze with these guys and talked some Universal people into "considering" doing a project like this

All the Universal people said "you're going to have to work through our attorneys at Greenberg(?) Traurig now", "but let us know when you're ready and we'll talk more"

He was able to smooze some big money guys because he now had Universal names to throw around and a partner at the law firm involved

The attorneys drafted the confidentiality agreements to protect the Universal people and potential investors

The project scope got larger and they believed it would be so successful, Faust branched out and optioned every property around it

This whole time, Faust believed that his idea was so good and so big that he thought at some point someone would take it over (because he knew it was growing bigger than him)

He far underestimated how much HE HIMSELF would have to do to and how much money he would have to front to get to ground-breaking and beyond

He far underestimated his role as the Project Leader, and how much scrutiny he would get

Everyone was looking to Faust, and everyone was disappointed that he couldn't execute the thing successfully

To Faust, the RFP process was just a formality because Mayor Heartwell insisted on it to avoid any indication of fowl play

That's why Faust gave far too little attention to the quality of the proposal, he looked at it as just paperwork

But to the city, the RFP process was not a formality, it was the real job interview

But it is amazing how far one man with a vision and people skills can go. It's just too bad he didn't concentrate on the finite details of getting this project to the starting line. He should have brought in a partner to help him with the startup costs and the submittal process, or to take the lead on it. He only considered partners for the development costs.

This project ain't going to Belle Isle, because Faust will receive the same or greater scrutiny there, and the Universal people have probably all forgotten about this project. It's nothing but a Faust vision.

Or at least, that's my analysis.

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Rizzo City

Rizzo

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I just grabbed that from the WoodTV website. If your words, "scheme," and "scam" are the center peice of this River Grand I would be embarrassed. I would be embarrassed to have connections with all parties involved. This is including all the companies and individuals playing a supportive role here in GR.

This is going to be less of what could have been and more of "I told you so."

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onabender Crossroads

onabender

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This was not a 'development' this was a 'scheme'. The City didn't need to pulll the plug on something that never existed in the first place !

this turned out to be a scam, one that cost GR taxpayers a bunch of money in the form of wasted time and energy. While the media certainly enjoyed this, all the rest of us lost.

The fact that people here are still even talking about Duane and his 'vision' a year after we found out who he really was is beyond ridiculous.

Our City goverment is charged with many responsibilities, considering all proposals is one of them. Sadly, they spent too much time on one that didn't have merit-- anyone care to venture a guess as to how many public dollars got wasted on this ??

Thanks, Duane.

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Allison Slater Town

Allison Slater

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I think what we should be looking at here is:

Despite the dissolving of the Faust plan, can we still interest Vivendi Universal in Grand Rapids? Can we do what it may take to encourage them to keep looking here without Faust in the picture? Sure the development would be on a smaller scale, but that's not to say the whole thing in and of itself won't spur additional development nearby.

We have a lot of awesome local developers who could each take on small sections.. Could this even be Heartwell's 'back-up plan'? Or do you think it could be something else entirely?

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