Journal Gazette Editorial Writer Tracey Warner wrote a follow-up to his story in yesterday’s paper about Fairmount Place last month.
On March 15, I reported how the city sold land it acquired as part of a $350,000 project to buy and raze homes along Fairmount Place. The city received just $8,800 for the properties. Five years after the sale, the buyer turned around and sold the land for $525,000 to the operators of Charis House.
City officials had trouble locating a record of the 2002 sale by the city to buyer Dyle Hughes but has since dug up – from long-term storage – appraisals of the property at the time. One appraiser valued the land at $5,490; the second at $12,000, for an average of $8,745, hence the sales price of $8,800.
When appraised, the land was most likely shown to still be in a flood plain, though a city levee project removed it from the 100-year flood plain. That removal later raised the value of the property.
Tuck Hopkins, chairman of the Rescue Mission board that oversees Charis House, revealed in a column published Monday that the property was appraised at $430,000 when the board purchased it.
So, the property was removed from the 100-year flood plain and increased in value by $422,000? Â Wow, that’s some return on the initial investment. Â I’d like to see that appraisal, not to mention the fact that they paid $525,000 for the property which was orginally given a $700,000 price tag. Â It still boggles the mind!
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Warner also writes about the Casino issue:
[…] An organized effort is already in gear to oppose a Fort Wayne casino. One of the leading anti-casino voices is John Popp, a major contributor to some Republican candidates. A number of pastors have joined the effort.
On the other side – well, who is on the other side? If there is an organized effort, it is underground.
Mayor Tom Henry hints that he thinks the advantages of a casino outweigh the potential problems. But, well aware of the ongoing criticism stemming from Harrison Square, he wants a referendum. That doesn’t seem to be enough for the legislators, though, who are waiting for a strong voice to emerge from the city clearly backing a casino.
Without that voice, the casino is dead in the water, at least for this session.
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