so what's up duck?
http://tinyurl.com/3d9orh
By LAURA MANSNERUS
Published: January 31, 1999
''They want a majority on the board,'' said Mayor Kenneth Saunders,
one of the three council members who opposes the plan. ''No. This is
our town, and we should have a majority.''
''In the meantime,'' Mr. Saunders said, ''I've got some other things
going, and I hope to be able to make a big announcement over the next
few weeks. We've had 17 years of going back and forth, and we're
closer than we've ever been.''
Those ''other things'' are settlement talks with Mr. Carabetta as well
as other prospective developers. Mr. Carabetta, whose offices are in
Meriden, Conn., declined to answer any questions for this article, and
city officials say they cannot estimate his total investment in the
project. But one group of investors interested in taking over the
project reached an agreement with Mr. Carabetta last summer to pay
more than $16 million of the developer's debts. This group was
rejected by the City Council because it could not guarantee financing
for the construction.
Carabetta Enterprises Inc. went bankrupt in 1992, after negotiating an
extension with the city and recasting the development plan to include
entertainment centers and theme restaurants. The only construction
that had materialized from the original plan was the skeleton of the
Ocean Mile condominium high-rise and a row of town houses that burned
before they were sold.
As for who else might acquire the property and the redevelopment
rights, Mayor Saunders said: ''I'm willing to work with anyone. I'd
work with Daffy Duck. The first ones that come in and show me the
money I can work with.''
Asbury Park has seen many builders express interest, only to recoil
because of the bankruptcy proceedings and the litigation over the
redevelopment agreement. Others, including K. Hovnanian Enterprises of
Red Bank, have withdrawn in exasperation over the city's political
leadership.
I N recent months, three groups of investors have put plans before the
City Council. After the Council rejected the first for its failure to
guarantee financing, a second group also dropped out. The third, a
consortium of builders that have completed projects in Jersey City,
Hoboken and Weehawken, remains interested, if frustrated. ''We have
been trying to do what we thought the city wanted,'' said Brian
Doherty, the group's lawyer. ''We'd work with the city, we'd work with
the state.''
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