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Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Our friends at Flaherty and Collins making Chicago area news. Arguably unfavorably so ...

The below screen capture is from this Chicago Tribune online report; click the image to enlarge and read or go to the original item for the full report.


That "Metra Triangle FC, LLC" thing, the M.O. being to form a thinly capatilized LLC for each Flaherty adventure. With the initials "FC" somewhere in the made-up name.

As in Ramsey. As in North Carolina.

I only saw David Flaherty once at a council work session. Well spoken, thin and looking as if he ran, exceptional suit, nice shoes, and an expensive looking gold wrist watch. Whether any accoutrements were subsidized, or purchased entirely from Flaherty's own money was then and remains unclear to me. Prior to his appearance to speak, he and the head of Coborns were in the Norman Castle lobby, chatting before the start of the meeting, and once the meeting started the Coborns man endorsed the Flaherty adventure in Town Center as in line with what he'd like to see happening there.

Does any reader know if there are any liens against Fhaherty's Town Center thing? If so, please add as detailed a comment to this post as time allows. And, thanks.

A later paragraph in the Trib's coverage indicated an 86% occupancy at Flaherty's Orland Park thing, with all the Flaherty people contacted clamming up about the lien foreclosure litigation.

____________UPDATE___________
Curiously, the official Village of Orland Park's website news page has yet to post mention of the lien foreclosure litigation; unless it was posted some time ago with the Trib only now noticing. Also, the Trib item is the only online reporting found so far.

__________FURTHER UPDATE__________
A request again for reader help. My best understanding of construction law, mechanics and materialsmen liens, is that they are filed with the county recorder's office; and that Anoka County does not make lien filings available to the public online. Is this so, or can one research liens against property online, without paying for any special service or going to the County records and researching there in person or via an agent? It seems sensible that such things would be online for citizen review, but sensible and Anoka County practices sometimes diverge.

Any reader knowing of the lien status of the Flaherty adventure, or how to check it out online, is requested to provide a comment, or to email using the sidebar address.

Doing a websearch =

contractor lien filings minnesota

did yield an interesting batch of links on lien/construction law in Minnesota, but nothing specific about any online county record searching opportunity.

__________FURTHER UPDATE___________
Doing web searching disclosed a previously missed Minneapolis report [on All Fool's Day] of Flaherty's empire building spree, nearby. Here [behind a paywall, so don't bother unless you care to see a lackluster rendering of the proposed apartment complex], and Bizjournal, here, with a bit more detail - an alleged $51 million thing, design by alleged architects, with expected detail:

Preliminary plans for the project include 248 apartments (studios and one- and two-bedroom units) and 7,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, according to the city. About 50 apartments would be affordable, defined at 50 percent of median income or below.

The developer has requested $1 million in federal funding and nearly $7.3 million in local tax exemptions through tax increment financing and tax-exempt bonds.

Subsidy sought, and from the rendering online, it looks ugly.

Same as it ever was? Except there over twice the retail square footage as was grudgingly accorded Ramsey, despite the multi-million loan subsidy, and the free parking ramp space. We don't rate 7000 sq.ft. retail? Just a pocket with cash to be reached out, but don't expect 7000 sq.ft. retail?

Another intriguing Flaherty item, this from Indiana, here; intriguing from the slant of the item and the comment stream. Not the local chamber of commerce thumping the glory of it all.

However, bottom line, all that additional info is irrelevant to something as basic as the construction contractors on a Flaherty adventure filing good faith claims of contracting debts not being paid. That is serious stuff. Especially with the same pack of operatives owing City of Ramsey money.