| Tim Hanke 2004-10-25, 6:46 am |
| > all Crossville is a plot of empty farmland and free space
quote:
> for a year in an abandoned building filled with propane tubes..
I have seen the 3 acres deeded to USCF. They are not "empty farmland."
The land is zoned for industrial use and surrounded by prosperous
businesses, including Fortune 500 companies and Fortune 1000
companies. I don't know if the city's $264,000 appraisal is correct,
but it looks to me like it could be: this is good land in a good
location, in a nice area with a strong, well-balanced, growing local
economy.
The free space we are occupying for a year is not "an abandoned
building filled with propane tubes." It is a prime building in a prime
downtown location: a former church with attached classrooms and
offices. The building is only "abandoned" in the sense that the church
was so successful, it has built a new, larger facility nearby. After
USCF leaves the building, it will be taken over by the county and used
for other purposes.
In my opinion, the Crossville deal has solid advantages, including
finances that work and that are relatively predictable and
comprehensible. For planning purposes, "predictable and
comprehensible" is good.
The bid from Lindsborg, Kansas was comparable to Crossville in some
respects, and probably would have been a good bet, too.
The Liberty, N.Y. "bid" (it was really Bill Goichberg's bid to keep
USCF in his backyard) had a lot of big questions, including:
--the potential role of Erik Anderson and his AF4C group;
--the potential role of a neighboring billionaire;
--the potential costs of renovating and maintaining the 104-year-old
hospital building;
--the potential revenues to be earned by renting out the extra space;
--the potential tax deals to be cut with local government officials;
--etc., etc., etc..
The extra two weeks Bill Goichberg requested would not nearly have
sufficed to answer all the questions to the Board's satisfaction. I
don't think you could even have gotten a thorough professional report
on the building's condition that quickly, let alone a comprehensive
report from contractors, plumbers, HVAC people, electricians, masons,
painters, etc. on the potential costs of renovation and maintenance.
When you add in the complexities of negotiating with Erik Anderson,
with the AF4C board, with the neighboring billionaire, with local
government officials over tax-abatement issues, with looking for other
tenants to co-occupy the space ... this was going to be a very big and
complicated deal. We would have been greatly distracted by non-chess
issues, and USCF's mission to promote chess would have been severely
compromised. We just got ourselves out from under a similar big
distraction, by outsourcing our books & equipment business (a move
strongly opposed by Bill Goichberg).
And what would be the ultimate result of a "successful" deal to move
USCF to Liberty, N.Y.? Sooner or later USCF would own a giant
building, a 104-year-old former hospital, that we probably couldn't
have afforded to maintain. Richard Peterson, with whom I disagree on
some other matters, aptly called the Liberty building a "sword of
Damocles" that would have hung over our head.
Bill Goichberg threw around (and continues to throw around) a lot of
happy numbers in his financial analysis of the Liberty deal, but a
majority of the Board was skeptical. After visiting the property,
Board VP Steve Shutt wrote a much more detailed, sober report. Steve's
report was more cautious and conservative than Bill's assessment, and
was ultimately more convincing to a majority of the Board. As I've
said before, if Bill really believes his own numbers, I invite him to
purchase the Liberty property himself for his Continental Chess
Association business, and reap the rich rewards he believes are there
for the taking. The USCF will not put its own money at risk in such a
speculative venture.
Also Bill claimed we would lose our current staff by moving to
Crossville, but we would keep them by moving to Liberty: doubtful when
you consider they would probably have to commute over an hour to the
Liberty location.
Tim Hanke
USCF Vice President of Finance
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