Benjamin Schachtman: Ok, Rachel, so we’re talking about a potential park on Greenville Loop Road, funded by county commissioners – but also the city, and The Endowment. We’ve had a lot of folks asking: how does this all fit together?
Rachel Keith: So, there are a lot of moving parts. The city says it identified about 25 acres back in March, so almost a year ago. But they didn’t have anywhere near the funding for it, so they reached out to both The Endowment and the county for money.
BNS: Right, and in October of last year, The Endowment approved a conditional grant of almost $8 million dollars — a decision that wasn’t made public until late last month. Some of the conditions include a $1 million investment from both the city and the county — and the city will have five years or so to get the park up and running. That’s expected to cost an additional $10 million dollars, for a total of around $20 million. So, the $1 million from the county is the smallest contribution.
Related: The Endowment offers nearly $8 million to help city, county buy greenspace on Greenville Loop Road
RBK: That’s true, but it’s also the lynchpin, because if the county doesn’t approve this, the Endowment grant won’t come through, and the deal falls apart. And the city says there’s a sense of urgency here because the land could be developed if they can’t close on the property. We’ve heard from some people that they feel frustrated because this deal has been underway behind closed doors for months, and since it was announced, things feel like they’re moving quickly.
BNS: In fact, if it hadn’t been for the snowstorm last month, which delayed the county’s meeting, the deal might already be done. But, let’s get to another question — $10 million for the land has struck some of our listeners and readers as a lot. We’re not real estate experts, but we've been digging into this for a few days now, trying to make heads or tails of it.
RBK: So, some people have pointed out that the tax value of the parcels put together is around $2.5 million — and it does seem, on paper, that the city is paying four times as much. And that tax evaluation is from last year, so it’s pretty current — but then again, properties sell for more, or less, than the appraised value all the time, depending on a host of factors.
BNS: Right, some of the parcels have recently sold for way below market value because they were tied up in inheritance disputes in court, and ultimately, there was a court-mediated sale.
But there’s another property involved here that sold for about $400,000 an acre recently — which if you do some back-of-the-napkin math, and multiply by 25 acres, that gives you the $10 million price tag we've been talking about. But even in that case, the buyers paid about twice the assessed tax value of the property — so it still seems, to a lot of people who have reached out, that overall paying four times the tax value is a lot.
RBK: You asked everyone involved if they had issues concerning the cost, what did they tell you?
BNS: Well, the county said no comment - perhaps because they haven’t voted yet, and local government tends to handle land deals confidentially until they’re done. The city said they did an appraisal and it came in at more than they plan to pay — so they’re satisfied it's a good deal. The Endowment said they could offer more details — but not until the deal is done.
Which leads me to another question we’ve received: where is all this money going? Who's getting paid?
RBK: According to property records, some of the land has been acquired by LLCs managed by Mark Maynard and Robert Hollis, who run Tribute Companies, a Wilmington-based development company. And we’ve heard they were trying to assemble parcels for a project.
But the largest parcel, about 19 of the 25 acres, was owned by James C Halsey – until recently.
BNS: Right, the property changed hands to an LLC in November — after the city had decided they wanted the land, but before it publicly identified the parcels. So the timing is interesting — and it also means, if the deal goes through, we won’t actually know who is getting paid, because the identity of the owner of the LLC isn’t available on public records right now.
RBK: We should add, there’s a wrinkle: the sale price was zero dollars.
BNS: Right, so perhaps Halsey put his own land into an LLC — again, I’m not an expert, but I’m told there are some legitimate tax and legal reasons you might do that.
RBK: I called Halsey to ask him, but we haven’t heard back yet.
BNS: So, that’s kind of where we are. Certainly, we’ve heard a lot of excitement that local officials are investing in a new park.
RBK: Yes, citizens continually say they want more greenspace.
BNS: Definitely. But when it comes to the finances, it’s a mixed bag. The city and The Endowment seem confident this is money well spent. But there remains the question of who’s benefiting on the seller’s side.
RBK: There are a lot of officials — 25 between the city, county, and endowment board — and right now we can’t answer listener questions about potential conflicts of interest.
BNS: Well, I do hope we’ll get some clarity in future — maybe next week. For now, Rachel, thanks for your help on this reporting.
RBK: Thanks!
