Motown officials to visit in November
Representatives of the Michigan group that wants to build a $300-million sports and entertainment complex in Vandalia plan to come to town next month to request an extension on a deadline for presenting financial information.
Mayor Rick Gottman said Wednesday morning that he was told on Tuesday that Motown Technology & Sports Facility Inc. plan to attend one of the two city council meetings in November.
Under a contract that it signed with the city in May, Motown was to provide the city with proof that they have secured funding for its project by Oct. 1. Motown officials notified city officials a few days before the deadline that it would be seeking an extension on that deadline.
Company officials had planned to present their request to the city council at its Oct. 5 meeting, but their trip was canceled when due to the death of a sister of Kenneth Bardwell, Motown chairman and executive editor.
Gottman said on Wednesday that he has not committed to a recommendation to the council on Motown’s request for an extension.
“We’re not out anything to extend it (the deadline),” Gottman said, “and we still have the right to market that property.”
Motown plans to build its complex in the area of the city’s western Interstate 70 interchange, on the city-owned land west of Vandalia Commons on West Main Street.
“Before I would make any recommendation to the council, I’d want to hear their reasons for wanting an extension, and what kind of extension they want,” Gottman said.
“I’m willing to look at anything they have to present and listen to anything they have to say.”
At this point, the city has spent $17,500 for a traffic study on the area of the planned project.
City officials received a letter from Motown officials in which they said they would reimburse the city for that expense.
Gottman said that the city only recently received the results of that study, and that it sent a bill to Motown two weeks ago. As of Wednesday, Motown had not paid the bill.
That doesn’t concern Gottman. “They haven’t had the bill that long, and you have to remember that Mr. Bardwell has been dealing with the death of his sister.”
