Friday, May 1, 2009

Deal near on convention center

The city and county are nearing a deal on the convention center. "I have not finalized an agreement with the County; however, significant progress has been made," Mayor Frank Jackson said in a statement about an hour ago.

The county commissioners gave Jackson until today to accept their "final offer" of $17.5 million for the current convention center and Public Hall. Jackson wants a higher price, and also wants to protect Positively Cleveland and non-medical conventions. (See my coverage of that issue here and here.)

"The price will be higher than the “ultimatum”; and, just as importantly, my concerns surrounding agreement details that protect the public's interest are also being addressed," Jackson said in a statement released to cleveland.com (and now to me too). “I look forward to moving ahead with this very important project."

Update, Sat. a.m.: The Plain Dealer and MedCity News report that a final deal may come Monday. Jones says the purchase price will be $20 million, but Hagan disputed that, saying the mayor is reviewing a possible deal over the weekend.

Update: Sat. 1 p.m.: This morning, Mayor Frank Jackson confirmed to me that he hopes to finalize the deal on Monday.

1 comment:

Chris said...

It's not sooo close. It's likely they'll work all weekend to seal the deal.

Medical Mart land purchase announcement could wait until Monday