Alleged interest in Toledo's Erie Street Market

It's sometimes called the Erie Street Sinkhole because for many years now, it has been a financial drain on taxpayers.

Mar 31, 2014 - Toledo Blade - City says 7 entities show interest in developing Erie Street Market - "Comprehensive plan sought for nearly vacant downtown site"

The city-owned Erie Street Market continues to be a money drain for Toledo taxpayers, but the Collins administration said at least seven entities are interested in the building.

That alleged interest sounds like the same noise emitted from the third installment of the Carty Finkbeiner administration (2006 - 2010).

But let's remain positive.

My related posts:

• Erie Street Market info at Toledo Talk
• The Erie Street Market circa 2001-2002 - includes my Sep 8, 2001 blog post. Man, 2001. The ESM was at its bustling peak between 2000 and 2002.

More from the Mar 30, 2014 Blade story:

The building is largely vacant except for the Libbey Glass Factory Outlet store.

Although the building hasn’t attracted Toledo City Council’s scrutiny recently, Matt Sapara, the city’s economic development director, said rigorous marketing efforts continue to [attract] potential investors.

“Development believes that the most viable development course for this asset is for it to be a destination retailer serving the nearby residential community,” the report said. “By April 15, a development team member has been tasked with collecting letters of intent to begin to move this concept forward.”

Melanie Campbell, Toledo’s budget commissioner, said the building cost $132,000 to operate last year, including utilities, risk-management insurance, garbage collection, and janitorial services. The market’s 2013 revenue was $116,523, representing the Libbey outlet’s monthly rent.

The deficit is expected to increase this year. Toledo’s 2014 budget, which council is expected to approve today, includes a $212,000 line item for the building.

An independent audit of the city of Toledo’s 2011 financial statements found problems that included overlooked regulations and sloppy record keeping. Among the findings was that Erie Street Market management was not retaining records showing when money was received.

Mr. Sapara has other city development projects detailed in his weekly report under code names. The three most recent coded projects are “Project Overlord,” “Project Torch,” and “Project Twining.”

Project Overlord? I thought that was the code name for local government.

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