THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 21, 1996 TAG: 9608211003
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 52 lines
The city, the developer of the planned MacArthur Center mall and its major department stores have yet to sign final leases committing them legally to the $300 million project, even though the city is proceeding with site preparation.
The city has torn down half of the Freemason Street parking garage to clear land for the mall.
David Rice, executive director for the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, said Tuesday that he could make no firm predictions as to when the leases would be signed.
But he said no substantive disagreements remained between the parties, as did the authority's attorney, Frank Crenshaw. Crenshaw said the delays were a matter of lawyers for all parties completing details, a process that takes time.
On a project this size, ``there are always things that need to be negotiated, cleaned up and signed,'' Rice said.
The leases are the contractual agreements between the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, the city's development arm, and the major private parties in the mall.
They are principally The Taubman Co., the mall developer, and Nordstrom and Dillard's, the two anchor department stores. The leases allow the private parties to use the authority's downtown land for a private shopping mall, and bind them and the authority to certain conditions, payments and obligations.
The leases were originally scheduled to be signed by June 15. At the June 10 meeting of the redevelopment and housing authority, where the board authorized Rice to sign the leases, Crenshaw told the board the leases would be signed in a matter of days or weeks.
Since then, authority officials and the mall developer have said that all parties are firmly committed to the project, and that any delays in signing the final leases are not significant. Copies of the leases cannot be released to the public before they are signed, Crenshaw has said.
At a presentation to the City Council on Tuesday, Rice mentioned the lack of final lease agreements on the mall. He also talked about minority-owned firms participating in the construction of the mall, after questions by council members.
``We very much feel that some of our people should be involved in a very significant way,'' Councilman Herbert M. Collins said.
Councilman Paul R. Riddick said he hoped that at least 12 percent of the mall's construction could be carried out by firms owned by African Americans, and another 6 percent by firms owned by other minorities.
Hoar Construction of Alabama, the mall's principal builder, has talked with three local firms that are minority-owned, Rice said, and had advertised its desire to hire minority-owned firms.
In addition to these special efforts, Rice said that, of course, any firm was eligible to bid on parts of the construction as subcontractors. by CNB