Rocky-developer tiff fuels investor interest in project

By Doug Smeath
Deseret Morning News
Published: Saturday, June 16, 2007 12:01 a.m. MDT
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Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson's much-publicized quarrel with developer Dell Loy Hansen has apparently generated a lot of interest from investors looking to help with the project Hansen is leaving behind.

Hansen and Anderson faced off in an intense hallway shouting match at the City-County Building on Tuesday following a meeting at which Hansen announced his Wasatch Property Management was pulling out of its agreement with Hamilton Partners to build an office tower at 222 S. Main.

The showdown made headlines because of the insults and profanities the two hurled at each other. Bruce Bingham, a partner at Hamilton, said that attention seems to have grabbed the interest of several would-be Wasatch replacements.

"I guess it would be a little strong to say phones have been ringing off the hook, but I have many more interested parties today than I had yesterday — twice as many, I guess I would say," Bingham said Thursday evening.

The City Council, acting as the board of directors of the city's Redevelopment Agency, has approved $6 million in loans to help the 21-story tower be built. But Anderson, frustrated with previous business dealings between Wasatch and the city, asked the council Tuesday to rescind that loan.

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It was at that meeting that an angry Hansen announced Wasatch would no longer be part of the tower project. He said it was because he and Anderson had had a poor working relationship since Hansen made visible his support for President Bush as the mayor protested his visit to Salt Lake City last year.

But Anderson said politics have not figured into his relationship with Hansen and that he has been able to work amicably with other conservative developers.

Bingham said he had been aware of Wasatch's withdrawal plans since early June and that Hamilton was seeking new investors — a process he described as potentially difficult. Now, he says, "I'm encouraged."

"We have to complete the transaction and make it all work, but I believe it will," Bingham said. "I think it bespeaks good things for Salt Lake City as a community and its reputation. Many of these interested parties are national investors, not just local investors. We have got strong national interest, and I think that speaks well of the business climate and community in Salt Lake City."

The 430,000-square-foot office tower is expected to bring 1,600 new workers downtown.

Anderson's accusations stem from an earlier RDA loan to Wasatch that allowed the developer to help KUTV move its studios from West Valley City to Main Street.

The agreement allowed Wasatch to earn credits toward the 3 percent interest rate based on the number of workers it brought into the city. Anderson accused Wasatch of falsifying those records, claiming credit for workers who were already downtown. Hansen denied that.

Also in dispute is a related loan, which Wasatch refinanced without notifying the city until Monday. The agreement required Wasatch to pay off half of the loan at the time of refinancing. Hansen gave RDA officials a check for $586,000 to pay that debt, but the officials say Wasatch still owes about $120,000 in interest.

Hansen, on the other hand, says he may actually be owed money from the city, perhaps as much as $80,000.

E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com

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