MASON CITY – The Mason City mayor and council took more steps this week to make sure the Renaissance Project takes flight, approving payouts to a hotel developer and a $8,000 study for the proposed skywalk over Delaware Avenue.
The council approved an amendment to an agreement between the City and hotel developer G8 Development. The amendment allows G8 Development to submit paid invoices to the City for reimbursement, for such pre-construction costs as design, engineering, site planning, etc for its proposed hotel in the Southbridge Mall parking lot. If the City determines that such costs are necessary for pre-construction of the hotel, the City will reimburse G8 for those costs. These pre-construction costs cannot exceed $500,000 and are part of the $3.7 million loan that the City is providing to G8. The amendment also removes the precondition that an agreement must be signed between G8 and the Mason City Foundation, which operates the Music Man Square, for a convention center.
Additionally, the council approved the purchase of a study by WHKS Engineering to examine whether the Music Man Square building can support the attached skywalk that would be built there. The study will cost $8,000.
The Renaissance Project consists of a multi-use arena, hotel, skywalk, museum, convention center and pavilion. State officials are waiting for proof of $10 million in private funds for the project to come from G8. The deadline is in May.
48 thoughts on “Mason City council approves $500,000 in aid to hotel developer, plus $8,000 for skywalk study”
Mason City Council – unqualified morons acting like the good ‘ol boys elected by a majority stupid population running what’s left of this town into the ground. It’s the citizens of this town that will eventually get screwed cause they are dumb, lazy and stupid to stand up and do anything about it. They are scared ‘cause they might get singled out by the idiots they voted into office.
Bye bye southbridge glad to see ya go hopefully now we can stop the money flow into this piece of shit hole,
typical city project. make all the plans and such for a skywalk and now do a study to see if the building can hold it. what if it cant??? the idiots will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to make the building able to hold the sky walk. I think we need to impeach the mayor and the whole council. Maybe if we get a good city admistrator he will make them all come to their senses but I doubt it that would take superman to do that. although if he puts all the mayor and council brains together he might have ONE to work with.
A blind person can see how the “city leaders” and it’s loyal fan base are burning through taxpayer monies with there own scams and kick back personal pet projects! Sad!
wait a minute mayor and council getting the cart in front of the horse. how can you approve plan and spend money on a skywalk and don’t even know if the building will support it?? the skywalk is part of the project so what happens if they find that it will not support a skywalk being hooked to it. I know we could put it underground as a subway then build it all the way to city hall so the higher ups can go over and see a vacant hotel to go along with a vacant mall. oh don’t forget to put in a artery to the bank.
Sounds like a scam to get the taxpayers to fortify that old morgue they call the Music Man Square. Anything at any cost to prop up the goofy dreams of the chosen few in this town. Where is the man who dreamed up the Music Man Square, anyway? Oh yes, he cut out of town to Wisconsin long ago and left us with that odd-looking box that is almost always empty. Now, we gotta pay to keep the dream alive. Thanks, Carl Miller… another former mayor picked by the downtown crowd to loot and wreck MC. The latest crew is here to finish the job. Bill Schickel did a great job with Indianhead, sucking all the life out of downtown, then he and Jaszewscki’s Northbridge train wreck, now they are back to drive a stake through the heart of MC.
The scam never ends.
Robin will see to it that ALL of her “pet projects” are funded by the taxpayers…along with all the kick backs neccesary to get her way! Figure out WHO wears the pants in this f**ked up city run by white collar(criminals) do-gooders!
The crooks who run this town smile in your face, rob you blind with lies as they control the system with rigged elections, then go to church or the christian radio station and scrub their sins clean. Then they start over on Monday. Sickos. It’s a shame the citizens are gluttons for punishment.
The same crooks that gave you $30,000.
Do something about it
Very, very sad when EVERYONE outside of Mason City can see your taxpayers’ dollars being wasted. Mason City’s city leaders and community leaders have enjoyed and continue to enjoy taking all you suckers to the cleaners time and time again! Does ANYONE in that city have a set of balls to put a stop to the white collar thieves? Clean house from top to bottom is step one!
Maybe the city counsel should just drop G8 and build the hotel with taxpayer money. This whole fiasco of a project will be on the taxpayers back before it’s done
Better yet Nonymus, file a taxpayer lawsuit to stop them from continuing to squander our money.
The council has approved multiple millions of dollars in bond sales. They can get the $ to do just about anything. I think they can build the arena and pavilion (have to please Robin or heads will roll) no matter what happens with G8 financing outcome. My guess is right now, if G8 fails, the state may very well pull out. No $9.5 million (gotta fill a lot of hotel rooms to get there) for MC in kickbacks over 20 years… but that won’t be enough to stop the council and Schickel and their bosses at 9 North Federal from pushing ahead to some degree. The wackiness in this deal is not over by a longshot.
Property owners – You are hereby notified that you have been SKY WALKED ! Not to worry – its just a liberal -politically correct term for stealing from the taxpayers to line the elected officals pockets and their thieving group of kickbackers = $$$$ for the elite and crumbs for the average joe blow. You know Obama/clinton/biden -demorat RAT PACK !
Most of the downtown property owners don’t even live here, but hit up Mason City taxpayers for money to improve their buildings regularly. This stupid project is no different. Too good to live here, but want us to pay for their crap.
Most of them are Republicrap perverts.
Very intelligent intellectual comment, good try goober.
Notice you didn’t say it was wrong.
You are as dumb as they come. The GOP are the oppressors in THIS country!
Just keep on smoking that funny stuff until you are completely brain dead.
The $8,000 approved by the say “YES” gang is for a skywalk feasibility study with WHKS to determine if the Music Man Square building is structurally capable of supporting the skywalk. They also must get approval from the Iowa Department of Transportation to put the skywalk across federal avenue, because the street is a state highway. Daaaaaa! That should have been done 2 years ago!!
I’m glad I’m on birth control pills. When the city council gets done F**KING us I don’t want to become pregnant.
TAXPAYERS bend over and grab your ankles, it’s just beginning to start
Wake up MC! Your leaders are spending tax payer dollars as if they personally hit the lottery! Very sad!
As someone who grew up in Mason City in the “good ole days” but moved away years ago, it’s sad to see it all go to hell in a hand basket. It will never close knit city it once was!
The white collar thieves they call “city leaders and fellow cronies” will now vote (amongst themselves) to “forgive” the back taxes owed on the mall from it’s present owner so it will not slow down the project. The defecit will be picked up by a city government vote on tax increases they can and WILL impose!
Mason City will NEVER be the thriving community it use to be when you have white collar criminals and friends running the city and only taking care of the wants and wishes of the “chosen few” with taxpayers money! Doesn’t ANYBODY have the balls or caring enough to stop the city leaders and cronie friends from turning Mason City into “dust in the wind”!
What’s happening before your very eyes ain’t rocket science! Wake the f**k up Mason City taxpayers!
Schickel, Jaszewski and their master Robin are ruining this town. They are re-treads from yesteryear who made huge mistakes in the past and now are back to make new ones. The current council is out to lunch, they don’t have what it takes to ask the tough questions, hold people accountable, let alone come up with real solutions to the town’s problems. The proof is before our eyes – the streets are lined with dead buildings, shattered sidewalks, bad roads, stumbling drunks and crooks cooking in the fast food kitchens. Beje Clark has done bang-up business here. But, Golden Grain Energy is getting a $3 million road to nowhere built for them (27th Street) right out of taxpayers’ pockets. No one notices, no one cares, that’s Mason City… just keep flicking through your phone screens, people.
Ya gotta understand what the concept of “kickbacks” are and how they work with your city government and it’s cronies! Been happenin’ for years in Mason City!
REALLY!? Why is the gov’t giving a PRIVATE BUSINESS money!?
Has the present so called “mall owner ” paid the back taxes yet????
W.T.F.?
no he has not
Stand tall citizens! Impeach or vote them all out! Don’t sit back and continue being raped! It’s your hard earned money…..not theirs! Take control NOW!
The future can be easily predicted by looking at the history! Sad! The citizens are taking it up the a$$ again by your elected officials and con artist friends!!!
And, it goes on and on and on. Tax increase next on list.
Wake up citizens …..your community leaders continue to “f**k over all of you taxpayers again and again with the lies and white collar theft of your hard earned dollars!. They continue to finance their “personal pet projects” on your tax money! Everyone on the outside can see it! Hate to say it but a blind man can read the writing on the wall! That mall and eveything connected to it since the day it was built has been a HUGE money pit for Mason City! You continue to line the pockets of your “leaders and fellow cronies”! What a sad state of affairs!!!
Why are we extending credit value to the Hockey Assoc for the equipment THEY need to sustain THEIR business? Aren’t they leasing? Why should we give them credit for anything it takes to run THEIR business?
What are you worried about hockey for.The hotel comes first hockey arena last.Makes no sense .Why build a hotel first.The arena is whats going to bring people in not the other way around.So they build a hotel then back out of the arena later on.I still don’t know how the shit Music Man square should be part of the deal.It does nothing for downtown.
The multi purpose arena financing comes fro the hotel construction (the hotels TIF contribution and its $10M in private investment needed to access state funds). Without the hotel, there is no money to pay for the arena.
Hockey Assoc: Payment confirmation for your proposed share?
Was supposed to be $2 million in DOLLARS contributed … then LATER it became a combination of dollars and EQUIPMENT into the project … now, who knows what their contribution is?
I predict in the end, the Youth Hockey will get bailed out of this thing by the City as well, there is no way they are going to raise $2 million, not even close. This will be another hit to the taxpayers.
I see no indication they will ever raise $2 million now contribute a fraction of that plus equipment to reach $2 million. They need to come clean with a statement as to where they are at in this deal.
G8 only has to come up with $9.5 million now.
State law requires $10 million, if I’m not mistaken … but in a way you are right, since they also get the $3.5 million forgivable LOAN from the taxpayers of Mason City. The $500K comes out of that.