Developer going forward with Salt Lake office tower
Bruce Bingham, a partner at Hamilton Partners, said the 222 S. Main office tower will go forward as planned — with a little delay — even after Wasatch Property Management owner Dell Loy Hansen dropped out of the project because of his frustration with the mayor.
That frustration escalated into a shouting match in the hallway of the City and County Building on Tuesday following a meeting of the Redevelopment Agency's board of directors. Anderson had encouraged the board to rescind a $6 million loan for the office tower, claiming Wasatch had abused a previous RDA loan.
Bingham said he had been aware of Hansen's plans to pull himself from the project since the beginning of the month.
"We were not caught off guard," Bingham said. "We respect their decision and why they want to do it. We're actively engaged, energetically engaged in finding a replacement investor, a financial partner in the project."
He declined to comment on Hansen's assertion that Anderson had targeted Wasatch after signs supporting President Bush showed up on several Wasatch-owned buildings.
A groundbreaking to begin construction on the 430,000-square-foot office tower had been scheduled for July 10. Bingham said that now will be delayed by at least a month. He said Hamilton is searching locally and nationally for a new investor.
"We recognize that this process of replacing our partner is going to take a while," he said.
The RDA loan that led to Tuesday's fight had helped KUTV relocate its television studios from West Valley City to the downtown Wells Fargo Center, which Wasatch had purchased from American Stores.
Part of that agreement allowed Wasatch to earn credits toward the loan's 3 percent interest rate by showing it had brought new employees to Salt Lake City who would otherwise have worked outside the city.
Anderson claimed Wasatch abused that offer, a claim that Hansen denied.
Anderson also accused Wasatch of refinancing a related loan without properly notifying the city. That loan required Wasatch to pay half the amount due if the loan was refinanced, but RDA officials say they didn't know about the refinancing until Monday.
Hansen gave the RDA a check for $586,000 at Tuesday's meeting, but officials say that only covers principal and that more than $100,000 in interest is still due.
After Tuesday's meeting, Hansen accused Anderson of attempting to ruin Wasatch's reputation because of Hansen's support for Bush, whose visit to Salt Lake City last year had been protested by Anderson. Hansen called Anderson "a filthy liar," and the two argued with their faces mere inches apart.
Wednesday morning on KSL Newsradio, Hansen apologized for the argument.
E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com
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