Westin investor has eyes set on Capitol Park

**innercitydoc** · October-15-11, 03:19 PM

http://detnews.com/article/20111015/...n-Capitol-Park

**stinkytofu** · October-15-11, 04:15 PM

Get 'er done.

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · October-15-11, 04:34 PM

Capitol Park has such amazing potential. Such a great urban feel to that area. Fill it up with residential!

Occurrence · October-15-11, 04:39 PM

Couldn't they have picked a better photo to accommodate this article?

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**animatedmartian** · October-15-11, 04:48 PM

The more I look at it, the more creepy it feels...

**1953** · October-15-11, 05:10 PM

I love this picture because its so stereotypical: a rich white guy about to get that much richer and laughing all the way to the bank!

Occurrence · October-15-11, 05:35 PM

Aside from being creepy, it's also very random. Couldn't they have used a more flattering picture, or even just a standard cell-phone picture of Capitol Park?

Those editors must have done this on purpose. Somebody is having fun.

**Trumpeteer** · October-15-11, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by 1953

I love this picture because its so stereotypical: a rich white guy about to get that much richer and laughing all the way to the bank!

Oh God!!We have to occupy the Westin or something as it's obvious that this man has far too much money and should give some to me/us! The jobs he would create are secondary as I won't graduate from post grad until I'm 40's anyway

**Packman41** · October-15-11, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by 1953

I love this picture because its so stereotypical: a rich white guy about to get that much richer and laughing all the way to the bank!

If he is "rich" then that would make his lender on the Hilton Garden Inn very happy. You see, he lost that hotel in foreclosure and the lender Wells Fargo sued him [[under his personal guaranty) for a deficiency judgement of $5.5 million.

Between that foreclosure and the deficiency judgement you have to wonder what kind of credit rating he has in order to pull off another deal downtown.

**bailey** · October-15-11, 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by Packman41

If he is "rich" then that would make his lender on the Hilton Garden Inn very happy. You see, he lost that hotel in foreclosure and the lender Wells Fargo sued him [[under his personal guaranty) for a deficiency judgement of $5.5 million.

Between that foreclosure and the deficiency judgement you have to wonder what kind of credit rating he has in order to pull off another deal downtown.

No kidding. Between that and the bath they took on the condo portion of the Book...it's surprising that they'd be back at the table.

**kraig** · October-15-11, 07:00 PM

Packman41 and Bailey. You two are calling it right. This guy is to hotels what Frank Taylor is to restaurants.

**davewindsor** · October-15-11, 07:40 PM

Originally Posted by Packman41

Between that foreclosure and the deficiency judgement you have to wonder what kind of credit rating he has in order to pull off another deal downtown.

Yes, he may not be rich anymore, but his credit doesn't matter. As the article states: "The only detail you're going to get out of me is that I'm working with a partner," Ferchill said

It sounds like it's his partner that will personally guarantee it with their good credit and it's his partner that's gonna get their credit screwed.

Occurrence · October-15-11, 07:43 PM

Who is Frank Taylor?

**rhythmc** · October-15-11, 07:44 PM

Personally, if a viable project can be done, let him do it. I'm concerned that there are more residential opportunities than employment opportunity [[corporate employees, entrepreneurs, etc.) to make the city bustle more after working hours. Aside from Gilbert, is anyone else moving those types of jobs to the city?

**Packman41** · October-15-11, 09:07 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

No kidding. Between that and the bath they took on the condo portion of the Book...it's surprising that they'd be back at the table.

In June 2012 the hotel portion of the loan [[98.5 million) comes due. Wonder what the lenders will do then.

Source: October 2008 dBusiness magazine [[but corrected to show the $12.0 million 3rd mortgage from Shore Bank:

Hotel Package: $110.5 million
· $44 million: iStar Financial Inc. [[first mortgage)
· $18 million: Section 108 HUD Loan [[second mortgage)
· $9 million: Detroit General Retirement System [[second mortgage)
· $12 million: Shore Bank [[third mortgage)
· $15 million: First Independence Bank [[fourth mortgage) * See footnote
· $5.8 million: Detroit Economic Growth Corp. Development Loan [[fifth mortgage)
· $6.7 million: Detroit Economic Growth Corp. Remediation Loan [[sixth mortgage)

* The City of Detroit Police and Fire Retirement System provided a repayment guaranty for the First Independent Bank loan [[notice: in case the bank was not fully paid off, then the pension fund would make the bank whole)

**313WX** · October-15-11, 09:07 PM

Originally Posted by Occurrence

Who is Frank Taylor?

He was the founder and owner of the now defunct Southern Hospitality restaurants [[Grand City Grille, The Woordward, Seldom Blues, Detroit Breakfast House & Grill, Sweet Georgia Brown, etc.).

**Gistok** · October-15-11, 10:29 PM

Um... why do you folks assume that Ferchill's has poor or no credit?

Just look at Gerald Hines... the developer of the Chrysler Tower [[One Detroit Center)... he lost the [[1/4 billion dollar) building to foreclosure, and yet still is manages the RenCen property for GM, and many other properties around the country... and yet it doesn't seem to have hurt Hines.

Are we just assuming that Ferchill's credit is shot? With all the LLCs and other legal issues, I wouldn't doubt if Ferchill is still credit worthy. Lots of building owners let their property fall to foreclosuer even though they may have the resources... sometimes it just makes more financial sense to just walk away.

Ferchill's company has other projects currently underway...
http://www.ferchillgroup.com/office.shtml

By the sound of some of these... Capitol Park is small potatoes...

Comparing him to Frank Taylor may be an exaggeration...

**dtowncitylover** · October-15-11, 10:50 PM

I love the, to use the cliche, urban feel of Capitol Park. But I hope these buildings aren't turned into more lofts or apartments or condos. I love that many of these buildings are being rehabbed into such, but these should be furnished to accommodate for more commercial purposes.

**animatedmartian** · October-15-11, 11:11 PM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

I love the, to use the cliche, urban feel of Capitol Park. But I hope these buildings aren't turned into more lofts or apartments or condos. I love that many of these buildings are being rehabbed into such, but these should be furnished to accommodate for more commercial purposes.

I don't think it's too bad since there's plenty of empty parking lots around if there needed to be a building built for commercial purposes. Not to mention that there's still good amount of vacancy in the bigger office towers.

**Wesley Mouch** · October-16-11, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

I love the, to use the cliche, urban feel of Capitol Park. But I hope these buildings aren't turned into more lofts or apartments or condos. I love that many of these buildings are being rehabbed into such, but these should be furnished to accommodate for more commercial purposes.

While I do agree that requiring street-level commercial, rather than, say what's been done at Michigan and Griswold [[see pic), its important to remember that retail businesses will only locate where there is sufficient residential traffic. There are a lot more people living downtown now, but we have a long way to go. For each residence we build, we get something like 1/200th of a viable business. So loft away in my book. Name: MiGris.jpg
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[[courtesy of Google street view)

**animatedmartian** · October-16-11, 11:31 AM

^ That parking garage was going to have condos on top of it before 2008. I thought it was the craziest idea.

**Patrick** · October-16-11, 12:17 PM

A lot of cities would kill to have a space like that eith the layout, history and architecture

**Pcm** · October-16-11, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

But I hope these buildings aren't turned into more lofts or apartments or condos. I love that many of these buildings are being rehabbed into such, but these should be furnished to accommodate for more commercial purposes.

What on earth would compel you to wish this?

Have you every tried to find an apartment in downtown [[proper)? Seriously, everything is full. Have you tried to find an office downtown? Options galore.

There needs to be more residential development downtown.

**Lowell** · October-16-11, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

I love the, to use the cliche, urban feel of Capitol Park. But I hope these buildings aren't turned into more lofts or apartments or condos. I love that many of these buildings are being rehabbed into such, but these should be furnished to accommodate for more commercial purposes.

You're right it does have a great feel to it. There's plenty of ground floor space for retail there, some very attractive, but that will only blossom if there are residents. Chicken meet egg.