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Renaissance Project twist: Mason City council ditches Gatehouse for G8 Development (video)

Philip Chodur of G8 Development is back in the Renaissance Project

MASON CITY – In yet another bizarre twist to the downtown Renaissance Project in Mason City, the city council ditched the hotel developer they previously selected months ago in favor of G8 Development – which has a pending lawsuit against the city.

G8 Development, owned by Philip Chodur, was pitted against David Rachie’s Gatehouse Mason City, LLC, Monday morning in a bid-off in city hall.  The “best deal” would then be chosen later that same night by the city council.

Robin Anderson: SUED

At that meeting, we learned Rachie didn’t change his deal, but Chodur came in asking for less dollars to get started on the hotel project and a smaller long-term interest-free loan ($3.7 million instead of $4.2 for Gatehouse).  He allegedly missed deadlines on the Renaissance Project when his G8 was the hotelier of choice by city officials, leading them to snub G8 in favor of Gatehouse this past spring.  He sued the city and Chamber of Commerce Director Robin Anderson for that and the lawsuit is pending, for now.

Monday night, the votes for G8 were not there – at first – and that proposal was voted down 4-2.  It then became apparent that Gatehouse did not have the necessary 4 votes to pass after Mayor Eric Bookmeyer lambasted Rachie and his Gatehouse LLC, formed in Minnesota, and with no ties to the “real” Gatehouse hotel developer in Texas.

Councilman Travis Hickey promised that if Gatehouse was the chosen hotel developer – which it was until later that night – taxpayers could expect a tax increase later.

David Rachie – trades places with Philip Chodur and is out of the project – where’s the $150,000 the City gave him already?

“This is not a great deal,” the Mayor said about working with Gatehouse.  He pointed to “mistruths” about Gatehouse’s ability to follow through with the deal and the alleged inability of the Mason City Chamber Foundation to back up the security of the General Obligation bonds in the project.

Mayor-elect Bill Schickel then called for a recess to privately discuss the matter.  He and Councilmen Paul Adams and John Lee adamantly supported Gatehouse as the hotel developer.

Coming out of the recess, G8 was selected on 5 votes to one abstention – by John Lee.  Failure by the council to choose affirmatively either G8 or Gatehouse could have killed the entire Renaissance project.

The next steps in the Renaissance Project weren’t immediately clear, but supposedly, the City will have General Obligation bonds sold soon to get the project funded and off the ground.

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