Countenance of Man

by Matthew Nuth

  It was a completely reinvented three city blocks.

  * * *

  The outdoor mall design was not without its shortcomings. Arlin had not even begun to tackle budget, financing, property acquisition, or ongoing property management requirements. He had moved so quickly from the discussion on cash flow to one of vision for the downtown, Lanny and Paul doubted Arlin had done much homework as to the potential cost implications of his design. If he had, it was likely he had already realized it was too expensive. More importantly, he had not even touched on how they might open the discussion with the city on closing down the street for three city blocks or the interruption of traffic on the cross streets. In general, he thought the city would be glad to dump their responsibility for the street maintenance. Public pushback might be another manner altogether. Although Lanny loved the picture Arlin had painted for them, he was even more a skeptic of the business proposition than he had been a few hours earlier.

  Paul sat quietly as Arlin wrapped up his presentation and sat down. After a pause, Paul asked if he could make some comments before he or Lanny jumped in with questions or asked for clarification on Arlin’s vision of downtown. Surprising to Lanny, Paul’s comments took a very practical direction, providing a sobering shift from the Arlin’s exuberance.

  “Arlin, I appreciate you taking on the challenge to recast Linden Street into something special. It is wonderful to see what Linden Street could be. Thanks.” He grasped his hands together and brought his elbows up onto the conference table. “Now let’s start thinking about it from the perspective of what we can realistically afford and what we might be able to pitch to the city. I know our friend, Lanny, would want us to now look at this from a purely business perspective.

  “Lanny, Arlin, I suspect you would agree pulling something like this together would require a huge commitment in time, people, and money to pull off. It also would mean taking it to the citizens of this city for a vote for both changing Linden Street use and to get some serious public funding. No way are we going to get this off the ground without support from the planning commission, the city council, and then a vote by the community. Let’s look at what we can cut to make this something that still provides some value, but trims the bucks in a big way.” He smiled, “I wouldn’t be surprised if this would take every dollar we have ever earned in this company and some. Let’s see what we can do with a budget we might realistically cobble together with the bank. OK?”

  Paul stuck his head out of the conference room and asked the receptionist to order three lunches to be delivered by a local deli so that they could remain engaged in the discussion. As they began to debate aspects of the redevelopment that would need to be discarded without destroying the entire project, a much more limited, but practical plan coalesced. By the end of the day they aligned on an overall plan centered around the establishment of an outdoor street mall; meaning the City Council and a city vote would likely still be required, but they had cut the likely up-front cost to PW Simmons by more than 80%; gone was the parking structure and restaurant facility, as were the glassed-in atriums and the related investment to connect the individual buildings. In this way, it was no longer needed to acquire all the buildings on each block of the redevelopment. Instead, PW Simmons could limit real estate acquisitions to those that made the most economic sense. Lastly, the original three-block plan had shrunk to two blocks to minimize the anticipated pushback from the city as a result of impacted on car traffic flow. In spite of the severe cuts in required costs, Lanny still expressed serious reservations on the entire project in that it would consume significant resources from their team before the first shovel hit dirt. The plan would require prolonged review, negotiation, and approval processes involving the PW Simmons leadership team, the city planning commission, the city council, and, ultimately, the voter.

  Chapter 29

  The first challenge was money; and for a relatively small company like PW Simmons, it was a lot of money, money they did not have. Compounding the problem, the prospects from the bank were not great; that is, unless they were prepared to pay a huge rate of interest. Interest rates had skyrocketed through the roof over the past four years. It was already putting a big squeeze on the company’s profits and its ability to grow. Taking out a loan to finance the project would make even breakeven difficult, meaning it would have to pencil out as one of their most profitable business ventures, before interest.

  The second challenge to hit the project came with a preliminary review with the city’s planning commission. The company’s real-estate expert, Joe Klein, had wanted to get a read on what obstacles they might be facing with the proposed redefined use of Linden Street. The entire project centered on the elimination of automobile traffic. In addition, Joe had wanted to see if the city might consider using their eminent domain or condemnation authority to facilitate the redevelopment. He did not want to embark upon purchasing any properties unless the city was prepared to take control of problem buildings, buildings whose owners were unwilling or unable to reinvest in the structure, through eminent domain by condemning the property. Purchasing the property in this section of town would be a risky endeavor, especially if only a few of the properties were to be renovated. The company would not begin the process of buying the real-estate if the entire project could be held up by one or two recalcitrant owners that desired to use the redevelopment as means to extort high selling prices for their properties.

  Although the members of the commission appeared to be interested and amenable, all politely nodding their heads in understanding during the presentation, one member, a Phil Barton, questioned the wisdom of investing in this particular section of town. Phil Barton had been a dominant member of the committee for years and when he escalated opposition to the proposal the rest of the committee listened. As Barton moved from being initially lukewarm on the project to becoming almost virulent at the suggestion of the city using eminent domain, it became painfully clear Barton would be a problem. He aggressively established his position on any government intervention that took private property, regardless of the public good could not be entertained. He would not easily be moved from his rebellious position.

  Cynically, Paul thought Barton’s push back was less based in an ethical position and was more of a squeeze to get something out of PW Simmons, essentially a negotiation play for a quid pro quo. His intuition was quickly validated when Barton suggested his opinion could be possibly altered if PW Simmons would consider a commercial development just north of the proposed site. He might even support the use of eminent domain given the property he suggested alternatively for redevelopment was so underdeveloped and the impact would be less significant on existing owners. Conveniently, this redefined property just happened to border on a section of undeveloped agricultural land that had been owned by Barton’s family for decades. Currently, Barton’s land was only valuable for growing corn. After redirecting the redevelopment per his request, Barton’s farmland would increase in value over night more than ten-fold. Paul was unwilling to bend to Barton’s request and actually went on to suggest during the meeting that Barton was using his government position of power to enrich himself. As such, it was not something PW Simmons could overlook and support.

  Barton, feigning offence, went on the attack, first suggesting he had been misunderstood then quickly moved on to threats; reminding Paul how the planning commission could make things pretty difficult for his company. Barton’s tone suggested he was the only voice on the committee that really mattered, obviously isolating and agitating the rest of the commission members. While Barton talked, Paul held him in his stare. Barton, on the other hand, deflected his eyes downward to the pages of the proposal that lay on the table in front of him. He would hide behind the power of the committee’s processes to get his way.

  * * *

  Over the short car ride back to the office, Paul was regretting his comments during the meeting. He had let his anger get the better of him. H
e had dismissed a recommendation from the commission, accused the senior member of the commission of being unethical, and pretty much impugned the integrity of the entire process; not a good thing given that they would continue to need the support of the planning commission for not only the Linden Street development, but for any future developments. He had made a bad enemy today. Making matters worse was the fact that the section of town suggested by Barton for redevelopment might not actually have been such a bad alternative, although it would never have the panache offered on Linden Street. Paul was questioning himself as to whether his actions had been driven by the obvious ethical issues presented by Barton or as strictly an emotional response from being pushed away from his proposal. Paul hated to be questioned and had never been good at hearing a “no” answer. He had grown accustomed to getting his way. In any case, the issues would be addressed back at the office before any serious commitment.

  With the blow-up between Paul and Barton, Lanny and Arlin had been placed in the position of attempting to salvage the meeting. They suggested PW Simmons would take Barton’s request under consideration, but prior to moving forward with internal discussions, they wanted to understand if the Linden Street project had any chance of getting the Planning Board and Council approval. This was critical in that the proposal required the city converting the use of two city blocks of existing streets in addition to supporting the interruption of the diagonal traffic flow for two additional streets. In the proposal, the city would maintain ownership for the street and its maintenance as a common area.

  Again, the conversation broke down quickly. The fact that this section of town had fallen into significant decay and had little hope of pulling out of the blight; the fact that the city revenues associated with the product sales tax and property tax had all but dried up for this entire section of town; the fact that the tax revenues were not sufficient to even remotely pay for the city services of fire, police, and maintenance, had done little to keep the board from balking at the proposal. The notion that they would be on the hook for the common area given that the private companies would stand to make serious profits off the city investment had resulted in serious discord. They were adamant that PW Simmons should provide the ongoing funding for the street maintenance and improvements. This potentially could alter the already tight economics of the entire project. Not only had they failed to placate Barton, they ended up creating another area of conflict.

  * * *

  After the pushback from the Planning Commission, the entire PW Simmons management team needed to align on how to proceed. William and Paul Simmons, Joe Klein, Arlin, Lanny, and the elder Lyle Jones sat around the conference table discussing the value and wisdom of a downtown redevelopment effort. Although the areas south of town had grown prosperous with heavy investments from new companies and existing company expansions, it was true the heart of Fort Collins had become old, stale, and depleted. It seemed the only viable businesses remaining in the downtown were banks, bars, dusty boutiques and some professional buildings for dentists, attorneys, and real-estate agents. Vibrant retail had all but disappeared.

  For weeks, Paul had been championing a redevelopment effort to revitalize at least one section of the downtown; culminating with the blow up with Barton in front of the city’s Planning Commission. A pragmatist would have begun looking for other options for investment in that the likelihood this project would ever get approval was dubious. Paul would not give up.

  Even if the city’s approval could be gained, the project came with huge financial risk for the company. Downtown had become a pariah for majority of people living and working in Fort Collins. To create a pull for people to come back into the downtown meant the company would not only have to rejuvenate a number of buildings just to make them safe and viable places for commerce; it meant creating something chic and trendy. For most of the PW Simmons management team, it meant awakening the community to new possibilities. The project was beginning to sound like the unbounded dreams of an unrealistic politician seeking election; not the serious business plan for a responsible business owner.

  Lanny Horton was of the mind to scuttle the project. His perspective had been a constant from the onset of discussions. In his opinion the project would stress the already tight finances of the business. Plus, after Paul’s run in with Phil Barton, he doubted they could ever gain the support of the powerful city planning commission for any real meaningful changes to downtown. Today, even though the area was blighted and moving from bad to worse, it did not require much from the city to maintain basic city services. It was apparent the planning commission would prefer to continue “kicking the can down the street” for some future generation to fix. The preliminary discussions with the city planning commission had been a dismal failure.

  Opposing Lanny, Paul, Arlin, and William remained ardently supportive of pushing forward with some type of serious investment for the city’s downtown, specifically focused at the Linden Street. For Paul, he felt it necessary to give something back to the town. Arlin had become a huge proponent of a downtown redevelopment, not for any altruistic, or business notion, but because it provided him an empty canvas to show off his architectural talents. William supported the project because, well, Paul wanted it.

  Surprisingly Lyle and Joe Klein had remained noncommittal throughout the discussions. Joe was confident they could win the support of the city council and voters if they pushed with the issue. Realistically, the city was addicted to the increased revenues coming from sales and real estate taxes; it was difficult for him to believe it would walk away from something that could help fill the city coffers and enable an ever-increasing budget. He recognized the company still needed to come up with some serious financing. If not for the financing challenge, he was squarely in the camp of continuing.

  Lyle brought a unique perspective to the discussion. Looking to Paul and William, he started, “You know, when Virginia, your Dad, Lattimore, and I were just kids, this section of town was pretty nice. The street was marked less by car traffic and more by people strolling sidewalks, enjoying the day. It was always less busy than the business on College, just one block west, but it was just as important for the neighborhood. As a kid, before the depression hit, I can remember walking there to buy candy after school.” He vaguely pointed at the drawings that had been laid out on the conference table. Then with more specificity he put his index finger on the picture of a corner building on the west side of Linden Street. “It was called Arnold’s Market back then. Markets were a lot different before the war,” then as if slipping back to an earlier, simpler time, Lyle closed his eyes. “I can still see and smell the little market. When I opened the door, I was instantly bombed by beautiful and intense aromas that were concentrated in the small shop.

  “I can remember almost as if it were yesterday, the gleaming hardwood floors, the shelves and counters that lined each wall, the way you had to walk through his entire shop to get to his main counter at the rear of the store. Arnold would have a selection of brewed coffees to taste as you first entered the store. Behind the coffee were shelves filled with the various coffee choices so that you could taste a free sample before buying a selection. It’s funny, decades before Starbucks, Old Man Arnold already saw the value in coffee, he just never understood that if he put out tables he could actually charge people for the privilege of taking a cup in his shop. He used to tell me that the coffee was his advertising. He said the aroma was what kept people coming in. He said people would line up to smell and taste and invariably snag a can from the shelf, and meander to the counter, picking up other foods along the way.

  “Along the opposite wall, directly across from the coffee, Arnold had the shelves stocked with breads and pastries.; not a huge selection, mind you, his store was just too small. The whole place couldn’t have been more than a thousand square feet. I doubt if it was more than fifty to sixty feet long and it couldn’t have been any more than 15 feet wide. The pastry selection was jus
t enough to entice the customer to grab something to take home for dinner, to have with their coffee, or to nibble on as they walked from store to store. He was ahead of his time, but he could not compete with the big grocery chains that were coming to town over the next several years. He had four counters lining each side of his store, each being maybe ten feet long. Each counter was essentially a mini-store concentrated on one type of food or dry good. One would be coffee, one for tinned meats, one for canned vegetables, one for soaps, one for dry beans, and; well you get the point. The problem, the big grocery stores had whole aisles filled with choice for each one of Old-Man Arnold’s counters. The biggest difference was the butcher section. For Arnold, his whole butcher section was probably less than five feet wide and shared space with the cash register and main counter. Arnold would pull meat from his counters, wrap it in brown paper, then bag the rest of the groceries, and then take the money from the customer, all on the same counter space. Probably not the most hygienic, at least by today’s standards. He did not have a chance to survive against the modern grocery store; but he was vital to this neighborhood.