The Scoopz-arena real estate deal that never was

Back in March of 2008, not long before the City started working out a deal with Tom Gaglardi for sale of the Scoopz lot, it entertained a proposal to sell not only Scoopz, but the arena on the other side of the street.

Scoopz would be developed as “residential.” A convention centre would also be built, with one possible scenario being that it and the arena would then be leased back to the City.

The suitor wasn’t Tom Gaglardi. It was Graham Lee of the Prospero Group, a Vancouver-based real estate and investment company.

Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act show that Michael Eibl, then the manager of new business development with Venture Kamloops, received an email from a Vancouver realty firm on March 4 of that year.

“Hi, Michael,” it began, “I’ve been asked to ‘get going’ on Graham Lee’s/Prospero’s Letter of Intent and need Kamloops’ wish list. Are you willing to sell the arena and then lease back; does Prospero buy the land for the convention centre, build it, and lease it back to the City. Do you want Prospero to buy multi family site (the 1.7 acres) and assemble and redevelop the nite club site? Thanks and let me know what works best for you. Eric.”

Eric is Eric Walker of Cushman & Wakefield LePage Inc.

The next day, Eibl passed along the information to Jeff Putnam, then the City’s business and client services manager, who forwarded it to then-mayor Terry Lake and CAO Randy Diehl.

Lake had no enthusiasm for selling Interior Savings Centre. “I still have a pulse so the ISC is not for sale but I’m just one vote,” he wrote back. “As for the convention centre/hotel let’s get creative! We should meet them and have an open discussion.” (It’s unclear from the documents I have whether a hotel was a firm part of the plan, and, if so, whether it would be built as part of the Scoopz residential complex or at the ISC.)

If that open discussion was held, obviously nothing came of it, since talks then began with Gaglardi.

There could be any number of reasons why the Prospero proposal didn’t pan out — price, ownership of the arena, or the details of what would be built, for example. Neither do we know whether it ever came to a vote by City council, since real estate transactions are properly done in camera, and minutes of the in-camera meeting at which it was discussed weren’t released to me.

It’s interesting to speculate, though, what might have happened had the idea gained traction. Instead of owning a facility that continues to run a deficit (albeit a decreasing one), the City would be able to budget predictable leasing costs. Or, maybe let the new owner run it entirely and allow the free market to determine rental rates.

To boot, the City would have a new convention centre, whether as part of Scoopz or on the land in front of the ISC that was once proposed for just such a facility.

There are nuances upon nuances, clauses upon sub-clauses, interpretations upon clarifications, and proposals upon counter-proposals in such negotiations. Who can say whether this was an idea that was worth pursuing?

But if a parkade can create the public commotion it did, one can imagine what a fuss a deal like the one broached by Prospero might have caused.