Council to discuss President’s Plaza future

The fate of the long-awaited Presidents Plaza, a nearly $50 million downtown project that promises office and retail space, hotel rooms, condominiums, a convention center and a parking garage, could be hanging in the balance tonight when the Rapid City Council meets.

At todays city council meeting, council members will consider an agreement brought forward by the City Attorney's Office that would install a Dec. 31, 2015, deadline for the project to enter a contract and then start construction within the first six months of 2016.

Mayor Sam Kooiker, however, will be pushing for construction to be underway by the spring of 2015. The project has been on the drawing board since 2006.

"With all due respect to the developers, the promise keeps shifting and it's time to have a firm timeline per the adopted ordinance," said Kooiker, referring to an ordinance passed in 2012 that called for the project to be under construction or have defined benchmarks for the work by the end of this month.

If that deadline is missed and a new agreement isn't reached, Kooiker said the President's Plaza project would risk losing $2.8 million in Vision funds that were awarded in 2005.

Hani Shafai, the president of Dream Design International, said he needs more time to pursue New Market Tax Credits, a key element of his plan to finance the project.

"It's impossible," he said last week. "I mean it's impossible, which means, hey, we don't want you to go to New Market Tax Credits, start designing."

Kooiker said, however, that Shafai has ample time within the next year to secure the credits.

"I believe this is the furthest we should go out and this is the last deadline," Kooiker said.

The project would be built at Sixth and St. Joseph streets as a mixed-use high-rise with a 100-room hotel, condominiums, office space, a conference center, a restaurant and a parking garage with 500 stalls.

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Council to discuss President's Plaza future