New FOIA Released with Proposed Deal Term Sheet!!
🧾 $200,000,000 in city bonds requested for Ann Arbor’s sports-themed downtown hotel, an Executive Summary of the transaction details, and a Memo of Recommendation drafted to City Council by City Administrator Dohoney and marked up by Chris Schroeder (CEO of Sports Illustrated Resorts) and Odis Jones (CEO of Cobblestone) 📝
Key points:
Official emails shed light on behind-the-scenes negotiations.
$200,000,000 in City supported TIF Bonds are requested by SI Resorts.
The bonds are effectively a loan to cover building, developer, interest, and other costs.
SI Resorts would have priority rights to buy the land, pay off the bonds, and go public with a “multi-billion-dollar” transaction.
Still no date announced for the Community Meeting sometime in Mid-January.
Included in the FOIA is a 9-page proposed term sheet that was negotiated between the City of Ann Arbor and Cobblestone / Sports Illustrated Resorts over the course of ~4 weeks starting 10/11/2023:
From: Rogers, David A.
Subject: RE: Revised Term Sheet
Date: Thursday, November 9, 2023 5:02:15 PM
An Executive Summary was sent between Cobblestone / Sports Illustrated Resorts and the City of Ann Arbor on 11/09/2023:
From: Rogers, David A.
Subject: Revised Flow Chart
Date: Thursday, November 9, 2023 4:36:52 PM
🧾 FOIA Email of the Day:
From City Administrator Milton Dohoney to Chris Schroeder (CEO, Sports Illustrated Resorts) and Odis Jones (CEO, Cobblestone) on 11/16/23 @ 4:35 PM:
“Gentlemen,
The only reason I am sharing a draft of this is it is imperative that I not give Council any information that is not accurate. My plan is to give them a final formatted version of this sometime Friday afternoon, in advance of the Monday night discussion. I will tinker with it up until I transmit it to them. If you see anything that I’ve stated that is way off base let me know. My document will ultimately become public. The privileged document the Law department is doing regarding the term sheet will not be. You will never see that one. My memo is meant to complete the picture so the members will have a full understanding of what is being contemplated.
Thanks
Milton”
