Deal on sale of Scoopz lot for Sandman proceeded quickly

The speed with which the sale of the Scoopz lot to Tom Gaglardi for a Sandman Signature Hotel was expedited indicates the enthusiasm with which both parties pursued it. That is suggestive of nothing other than that the two parties were motivates to effect a smooth sale.

The FOI documents that I received this week, and which I wrote about in the previous post, show that from the point an appraisal of the property was called for on July 23, 2008, to the time the deal was announced at a press conference, only two weeks elapsed. Of course, their was activity prior to that period — somebody made the approach to somebody, discussions were held, and an indication was given that a deal could be arrived at.

The day after CAO Randy Diehl’s email to staffers on July 23 asking for an appraisal, City real estate manager Dave Freeman wrote to Frank Quinn, acting for Gaglardi, suggesting, “Frank … with regards to establishing an appropriate land value I know Gary Mirtle at Flynn Mirtle Moran may be able to provide an appraisal by the end of August. Do you (or Tom) have any other suggestions?”

Then Freeman sent Quinn copies of the title and legal survey plan, a soils report, environment site assessment, and an old traffic study. “I have started the homework on quanitfying a value based on a 120-room 4 star Sandman.”

Quinn responded that “we (sic) comfortable with choice of appraiser.”

Still on July 24, more emails were exchanged, confirming the scope of the hotel and its amenities.

Appraiser Terry Kerslake of Flynn Mirtle Moran then entered the picture and a meeting was booked for July 30 to discuss terms of reference of the appraisal. That day, Kerslake emailed suggested wording to limit the use of the site to hotel purposes: “That the permitted use of the site will only be for the purposes of develping a 120-room hotel and associated uses, including food and beverage facilites, meeting and banquet facilites, health clubs, spa facilities and retail uses typically associated with a full-service hotel. There will be a covenant registered on title limiting the use to a hotel.”

The next day, Freeman confirmed by email that terms of reference have been accepted and “a delivery date of mid-August is acceptable.”

Quinn replied that “I am comfortable with the terms of reference. I have discussed the raw #s terry gave for value with tom and he thinks we are high. I will get some data to you if he agrees.”

On Aug. 5, 2008, Diehl asked Freeman if Gaglardi had purchased the nightclub next door to the Scoopz property. On Aug. 6, Freeman answered, “I beleive (sic) they have talked (Frank was very familiar with the Bob O’Brien wish list. At our last meeting Frank indicated that O’brien’s price of $1.2m was too rich.”

Discussions continued after the press conference as the draft appraisal was completed and delivered.