DIA CEO will look to philanthropists to close gap between project costs, profit

[thelakelander]

Today was the new DIA CEO's first day on the job.  The Jax Business Journal has several articles on his plans for downtown revitalization. Here's one focusing on his plan to seek philanthropists. Do we have a Dan Gilbert out there? Welcome to Jacksonville, Mr. Wallace.

Wallace told the Business Journal shortly after his June hiring that his No. 1 priority was to make capital more comfortable investing in Downtown projects. On Monday, he said he would seek money from philanthropic organizations to close the gap between project costs and a developer's profit margin.

But to garner that kind of support, Wallace said, the authority will need to complete its Community Redevelopment Area plan, which serves as a framework for revitalization. Completing the plan will allow the DIA to access its own money.

"You can't talk to philanthropic investors until you have your actual house in order," Wallace said.

full article: http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2013/08/19/dia-ceo-will-look-to-philanthropists.html

[Cheshire Cat]

Yes, first a welcome to Mr. Wallace.     Then a question "out loud" that is bumping around in my brain which is, seeing as how Mr. Wallace is so new to Jacksonville, I wonder what influence he can have on philanthropists locally or even how he hopes to identify them?  Kind of reminds me of Mayor Brown's promises of all those lucrative "public/private" partnerships lifting the city out of decline when he was running for office.  So far, those haven't manifested in any big way.  Guess we will have to see what happens.  Hoping for good things though. 

[Cheshire Cat]

Here is the latest TU article about Mr. Wallace.  Seems as if there is discussion about creating a staff for him as well.  Not sure how impressed I am with his acknowledgement that the Laura Street development could be catalytic.  Folks have known that for years and it was a deal being done before he came on board.  Not sure what the ill feeling in my gut is about this man and the DIA as well as growing government to support a new Director that basically has no funding to work with.  This whole thing seems to be moving by the seat of it's pants and based in some outside hope that the council that has pulled funding for downtown will suddenly see the light. 

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-08-19/story/new-head-downtown-investment-authority-touts-laura-street-trio-catalytic  (click to read entire article)

On his first day as CEO of the Downtown Investment Authority, Aundra Wallace said he's eager to crunch the numbers with developers about projects such as renovating the historic Laura Street Trio in the heart of downtown.

Wallace, who came to Jacksonville from the Detroit Land Bank Authority, said he likes what he's heard about developer Steve Atkins' concept of bringing a hotel, two restaurants and a bank to the landmark buildings, which have stood vacant for years.

"Let's work collectively, see what needs to be done, and hopefully we can move that project forward and let it be a great catalytic project for the urban core," Wallace said Monday.

"Jacksonville has a lot of great things in the pipeline right now," he added in an interview about his goals. "There's great potential in the first year."

Wallace, 45, arrives in the $178,000-a-year job amid a swirl of questions about the financial resources of the authority, created last year to focus solely on bringing residents and businesses into the core.

As it stands, he is a one-man staff. But the authority board wants to give him a supporting cast. The board will discuss Wednesday a budget request for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 that would total $1.5 million. If approved by the City Council, that would contain funding for Wallace to hire four staff members

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-08-19/story/new-head-downtown-investment-authority-touts-laura-street-trio-catalytic#ixzz2cSb9lDMr

[Cheshire Cat]

Another piece from the Daily Record.

"In Detroit, we had less than $750,000 when I got there. I was able, fortunately, in three years to raise almost $30 million in capital," he (Wallace) said.

Wow, that does sound amazing doesn't it?  I wonder, did anyone at the city see a breakdown of the "how and where" of all these funds, this $30 million?  It really is quite a claim.  Not saying I don't believe him, just saying some documentation of this fact would be nice to see.  I guess I am still left wondering that if this effort worked so well, why is Mr. Wallace here and not in Detroit?  I know that I seem to be a little less than thrilled about this new leadership and frankly I am unsure at this point why I am not more excited about the new DIA or the new director.  I am feeling a bit too much pie in the sky right now along with the realization that pulling $30 million from an area you know and doing anything close in community with the nuances and politics of Jacksonville will indeed be quite the challenge.  Knowing the inside out of what it takes to do business and the political atmosphere here takes a great deal of time to understand, much less negotiate.  Can anyone else give me something more concrete to use as a measure here other than saying give the new guy a chance?  I am willing to give him and the DIA a chance.  Make no mistake about that.  But man oh man how many times is this city gonna travel the road where we create a new agency for the core, hype it, let it run, find out it's broken and dismantle it only to start the same actions over again.  Seriously.  What am I missing here?


http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=540295

the pipeline'
Tuesday, August 20, 10:04 AM EDT

by Max Marbut, Staff Writer
With funding limited, new Downtown Investment Authority CEO Aundra Wallace said Monday he will seek assistance from the public, private and philanthropic sectors to invest in Downtown.

"I'm no stranger to working in environments where capital is limited," Wallace said Monday, his first day on the job.

"In Detroit, we had less than $750,000 when I got there. I was able, fortunately, in three years to raise almost $30 million in capital," he said.

Wallace is the former executive director of the Detroit Land Bank Authority and was selected to lead the Downtown Investment Authority by its nine-member after a nationwide search. His annual salary is $178,000.

"We need leadership and the community is looking to the DIA to provide that leadership," said board Chair Oliver Barakat, who introduced Wallace to the media.

Barakat said Wallace's time at the Detroit entity is similar to that of the authority in that Wallace was the organization's first executive director and grew the organization to a staff of 10 and an annual budget of $1.5 million.

"It's going to be a great challenge. I'm looking forward to it," said Wallace.

He anticipates hiring a five-member staff for the authority.

The first order of business will be to spend his first 90 days "meeting and greeting" all Downtown stakeholders and assuring them the authority is operational, he said.

"Now it's time for me to come in and lead the board in a management aspect," Wallace said.

Barakat said Wallace's arrival also will allow the board to be more productive and the authority will "have somebody who can focus exclusively on Downtown."

Establishing a Downtown master plan also is a priority, which the authority has retained a consultant to develop. Barakat said the consultant has projected it to be complete by February.

The plan must be approved by Council.

"We need to go into 2014 having a lot of these things behind us," Wallace said.

One issue currently in front of Wallace and the board is the redirection of a $9 million fund established for Downtown projects. The City Council Finance Committee as part of its budget review diverted those funds into a capital projects account.

"Reallocating that money at this time does interrupt momentum. Notwithstanding that, we continue to engage with developers. We will be lobbying City Council to try to explain why it's important to preserve those funds," said Barakat.

Wallace later said one of his goals is to have the development community comfortable with the authority as a "one-stop shop."

"They can come in and talk about a particular project and we are responsive to their actual needs. Having that reputation in the marketplace is critical for us," he said.

"Jacksonville has a lot of great things in the pipeline. We just need to figure out what needs to be done and get projects moving," he said.

mmarbut@baileypub.com

[Stephen]

Good grief  can't you people give this poor guy a chance ? No wonder top flight people don't want to come here to work you guys peck them to death like a pack of rabid bats.

[Cheshire Cat]

Good grief  can't you people give this poor guy a chance ? No wonder top flight people don't want to come here to work you guys peck them to death like a pack of rabid bats.

Hold on there Stephen.  You can stop with the "you people" stuff.  These are my thoughts and not those of other forum members.  They get a pass on this so you can relax a bit.  Now as far as the pecking rabid bats, I do believe bats bite, they don't peck. I haven't bitten anyone yet.  lol

If you read what I posted and digested any of it you will see that I said I am willing to give both Mr. Wallace and The DIA a chance.  You will also see that I remarked upon the claims made by Mr. Wallace about the monies he was able to secure in Detroit.  I did not say he was being untruthful, but did state and "do" believe that some sort of documentation behind the claims would be a good thing to see.   I also pointed out that the city has created several "agencies" in the past to deal with downtown and each one of those after much hype and grand expectation, was dismantled and the great "rebirth" of downtown has still not manifested. 

I also stated that I am not sure what isn't sitting right with me about the new hire and the new agency and was sincere when I asked can someone, anyone give me some solid reasons (beyond) give him a chance that will help me to understand why others are so excited especially in the face of the reality that the current legislature has pulled the $9 million slated for downtown.  Now everyone can copy and paste this post and throw it back at me if this all succeeds and Mr. Wallace resurrects downtown and finds $30 million for the core.  I will gladly print it out and "eat my words" but I will not deny that something in my gut is bothering me about all of this and I trust my gut.   

[John P]

Good grief  can't you people give this poor guy a chance ? No wonder top flight people don't want to come here to work you guys peck them to death like a pack of rabid bats.

The new DIA director will need to hit the ground running but until he has time the jury is out. People are more critical online than in real life anyways.

[Cheshire Cat]

Okay, following my gut now and looking for documentation about Mr. Wallace.  Did you guys know about the Miami scandal?  Looks like it was interesting enough to demand a seven part series in the Miami Herald.  I am going to try and get the rest of the series to see what it was all about.

DIA pick Aundra Wallace responds to Miami scandal

Wallace was with the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust Inc. from 1999 to 2008, becoming president and CEO in 2005. He served the organization as a consultant from 2008 to 2009, after taking a job with the North Carolina Community Development Initiative Inc.

A 2007 seven-part series in the Miami Herald spells out very serious problems in the management of the Miami-Dade group, from "squandering tax dollars on risky projects" to "misleading progress reports with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — heralding successes that never happened and erasing failures."

Wallace said some of the issues in the reports weren't under his leadership. Others, like millions given to a developer with questionable credentials to build a biotechnology park that never came to fruition, were.

The Herald report said that 47 percent of the loans the trust made defaulted or were written off, though Wallace said his default rate was 9 percent. He said the group did collect on some of the loans that were written off

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/blog/2013/06/dia-ceo-pick-responds-to-scandal.html

[Cheshire Cat]

How many folks are comfortable with the reality that the person picked to head the Downtown Investment Authority's experience is not in downtown revitalization but rather in dealing with foreclosed homes.   How does that translate to rebuilding and revitalizing a downtown core.  Someone "splain" please.

http://www.mlive.com/business/detroit/index.ssf/2013/01/detroit_land_bank_authority_to.html

The Detroit News reports that the little-known, quasi-government entity Detroit Land Bank Authority will be taking on the nearly 8,000 properties.

MLive Detroit could not immediately reach Detroit Land Bank Executive Director Aundra Wallace for comment Tuesday morning.


Wallace, who was named executive director in 2010, has a tall order ahead of him, as the Detroit News notes that about 2,000 of the properties the DLBA will oversee are currently occupied by squatters, former owners who refuse to leave their property or tenants with no intention of moving:

    "The situation is inherently combustible. There will be title issues, evictions and controversy that Wallace, a native of Georgia who built his career in real estate and community development in Miami and Raleigh, has avoided.

    "We're a tool for land development," says Wallace, who has won over neighborhood residents, city officials and other land bank leaders during his tenure here. "I think of us as the special forces team."

[Cheshire Cat]

Oh my oh my.  Look at this Miami Herald piece called "The Poverty Peddlers".  Kind of interesting since the new DIA director Aundra Wallace is on record as supporting the effort he was involved in 100%.  Looks like there were some serious rip offs under discussion.  But hey read it for yourselves and ask why someone would support dealing with this guy.  Don't kill the messenger guys.  Just doing some research.


http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/povped/part1/index.html

portunities,'' he said.

DEVELOPER'S THOUGHTS HE PLACES EMPHASIS ON JOBS, INVESTMENTS
Stackhouse proposal

Stackhouse defends the project, saying the park will bring much-needed jobs and investments to Liberty City.

He denied any wrongdoing and said the double billing could have been a clerical error.

''If it were $500,000 -- and I doubt that it is -- what is that? Five percent of what's been spent?'' he said.

Although he told the County Commission he had big-name tenants lined up for the park, Stackhouse told The Miami Herald the list is not firmed up: ``Who the ultimate mix of tenants are remains to be seen.''

The trust also defends the project. ''We still feel strongly, 100 percent behind this project,'' said Chief Executive Officer Aundra Wallace

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/povped/part1/index.html#storylink=cpy

[Cheshire Cat]

Oh goodness gracious, look at this.  Looks like Mr. Wallace has a history of doing things "without" the approval of his board.  My, my, my.

PROJECT LAGGING | PARTIES AND PERKS, BUT NO NEW BUILDING

Across the street from Joel Darvin's shuttered furniture store on Northwest Seventh Avenue, the Martin Luther King Economic Development Corp. received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the trust for a redevelopment project that is years behind schedule.

Since 2003, the trust's board has passed four resolutions providing the MLKEDC with more than $630,000 for economic development activities in Liberty City and to convert its headquarters at 6100 NW Seventh Ave. into a $14.5 million business incubation center.

After nearly every resolution, however, the MLKEDC asked to change the scope of its contracts with the trust. And each time, the trust's former chief executive officer, Bryan Finnie, or current CEO Aundra Wallace obliged - without their board's consent, records show

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/povped/part7/index.html#storylink=cpy

[Cheshire Cat]

And more interesting information and findings by the Miami Herald that Mr. Wallace refused to comment on.  Wonder why?

Here's what the trust didn't tell the feds: The diaper store closed down. So did the pizza restaurant. So did the catering company. The gas station opened - but the cafeteria hasn't yet. The real number of jobs: seven.

To federal monitors and to the public, the Empowerment Trust has portrayed itself as the successful steward of a massive economic-development machine, generating about 1,900 new jobs in Miami-Dade County's most impoverished neighborhoods.

But a Miami Herald investigation found that while the agency was receiving millions in tax dollars, it falsely reported the number of jobs it fostered for the poor - claiming hundreds of new positions when no such jobs existed - in violation of federal rules.

In progress reports filed annually with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the trust repeatedly brought dead businesses back to life, conjuring jobs where none existed and cheering about jobs that had vanished - the businesses long shuttered.

A review of 15 reports the trust submitted to HUD this year found that only eight of 310 jobs could be confirmed by trust records - with more than half the companies out of business at the time the reports were filed.

The trust's files are so incomplete - and in some cases inaccurate - that it's impossible to say how many jobs it has created.

The trust's chief executive officer, Aundra Wallace, declined to be interviewed for this report

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/povped/part5/index.html#storylink=cpy

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I've tried to capture all of my excitement and surprise in song....

http://www.youtube.com/v/bRE3t0qvDTE

[Cheshire Cat]

Phantom Jobs?  Really?  Mr. Wallace refused to comment on this as well to the Miami Herald.

But a Miami Herald investigation found that while the agency was receiving millions in tax dollars, it falsely reported the number of jobs it fostered for the poor -- claiming hundreds of new positions when no such jobs existed -- in violation of federal rules.

In progress reports filed annually with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the trust repeatedly brought dead businesses back to life, conjuring jobs where none existed and cheering about jobs that had vanished -- the businesses long shuttered.

A review of 15 reports the trust submitted to HUD this year found that only eight of 310 jobs could be confirmed by trust records -- with more than half the companies out of business at the time the reports were filed.

The trust's files are so incomplete -- and in some cases inaccurate -- that it's impossible to say how many jobs it has created.

The trust's chief executive officer, Aundra Wallace, declined to be interviewed for this report.

[Cheshire Cat]

Connecting the "dots".

http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2007_06_24_archive.html

Oh, sorry wrong game. We are playing the Blame Game not the "name game".

The Miami Herald reported that the County Commission blames Burgess over biotech deal. Yes, he should have researched Stackhouse as I said in a previous post. Just a Google away was the information that would have nixed the whole deal. But I bet Burgess was under pressure...as always...to get it through. He more than anything, is obedient. Obedient to a fault!

Under fire from the Commission Thursday, Burgess did what any Manager would do: He passed the blame on. He blamed the non-profit Miami Dade Empowerment Trust, Inc. Hmmm. There seems to be a lot of blame to go around.

I looked up the Trust. Aundra Wallace was the Registering Agent and is/was the CEO and President. He also has another corporation with Irby McKnight. Willard T. Fair is on the Empowerment Trust corporate papers as is Dean Goldsby, Sr. and Willie Carpenter. Some are big powerful names in the Black Community.

Affordable Housing Cynthia Curry was the registering agent in 2000 when the Trust did their first annual report. At that time, Alex Penelas, Joe Carollo, Steve Shiver and Otis Wallace were the officers. What a crew! Red flag, red flag!