Lexington Mayor Jim Gray has announced that developers, Bridgeton Holdings and Matt Collins, have decided to pull out of the CentrePointe proposal with the city after it was determined to be too expensive for Lexington tax payers.
Jonathan Miller, a lawyer who represents the developers, sent members of the Lexington Urban County Council a letter late Wednesday indicating that the city has told the group that a city hall on the CentrePointe property was not feasible.
The developers wanted to build a mixed use development and felt that without a government building, the project would not work.
A statement from Lexington Mayor Jim Gray said:
“The proposal simply asked too much from taxpayers. While everyone wants to see progress, it shouldn’t come at a premium to citizens. The developers were unwilling to consider the boundaries Council felt were necessary to continue negotiations.”
A letter from city attorney Mason L. Miller to CentrePointe developers stated:
"As you know, the City must act in the best interests of the taxpayers, and this proposal was not in their best interests. Specifically, based on the work of the expert consultants hired by the City, your clients’ proposal would have cost the City in excess of $5.5 million per year, whereas other options were less than half of that cost annually."
The decision to pull out comes after a meeting yesterday in which city consultants discussed a location for a new city hall and CentrePointe was considered one of the possible options.
Copyright 2016 WUKY