Destination Montana: Backers field questions amid wide support in Butte

The 500 or so people attending a Monday night forum sponsored by The Montana Standard about a proposed $1.8 billion project slated for Butte made it clear: They want Destination: Montana in their hometown.

By Leslie McCartney of The Montana Standard

As developers explained the project to the standing-room-only crowd — at least 150 people were relegated to the lobby or sitting on the floor in the Montana Tech audi torium — they also were awed by the support from Butte.

“ I’m truly overwhelmed; I’m not used to this,” said Florida developer Barrett Singer. He and partner Ohio businessman Robert Tormey, who have formed Foxx Industries, laid out plans for their project that promise to transform the town with musical venues, athletic training centers, a stadium, three golf courses and wide-open gaming.

However, the whole deal hinges on passage of legislation allowing the music and entertainment district in the town.

And that, too, is something the people participating in the forum spoke about — from helping build support with neighbors in other communities to traveling to the state Capitol to let legislators know how much they want the project.

Butte legislators in attendance are sold on the project and said they are working on fellow legislators to build support for the revenue bill that is expected to be introduced soon in Helena.

Butte Local Development Corp. Executive Director Evan Barrett and lobbyist J.D. Lynch declined to name who they have in mind to carry the bill, but said they will hold talks Wednesday to see who is interested.

However, they also tempered their remarks with the reality of politics in that selling the idea to the state will not be easy and invited community members to help them in their work by contacting others and showing support.

“ Butte is a hungry town; we need to remind them (other towns) that they are just as hungry,” said Rep. Brad Newman. “ Let’s start generating some money instead of looking at cuts,” he added of the state’s financial situation.

The project is especially tantaliz ing given some of the numbers thrown out — including the prospect of 8,400 permanent jobs in Butte and a whopping $376 million per biennium to state coffers beginning in 2006.

An estimated 10,000 union con struction workers would be needed to build the entertainment district, which lies east of the Uptown area.

Butte, of course, would benefit from the taxes on gaming, rooms and entertainment tickets. People at the forum expressed excitement about Singer and Tormey’s plans.

“ This project is extremely important to this community,” said Don Knievel, a lifelong Butte resident.

Also discussed at the two-hour meeting sponsored by The Montana Standard is the notion that if gaming is allowed in Butte, Indian tribes will follow suit.

“ We are working on a solution,” Singer told the crowd. Developers and officials will meet with others on that matter and hope to have news on that front in another week or so.

The legislation is shaping up to include a music and entertainment district only in places with a National Historic Landmark District, an urban renewal area and Superfund site — and only Butte qualifies under that criteria.

Developers said district requirements include factors to ensure com pliance and will not leave Butte with gaming and nothing else in the plan.

They must muster $1 billion in financing in place and also must com mit to building 20 music halls, one golf course and two training centers. Failure to do so means that the developers would not get the needed permits.

Singer said that developers want community comment as the process progresses. If the legislation wins approval, construction could begin in spring 2004 with completion in summer 2006.

With handmade signs and a packed house, residents showed their support in sheer numbers and desire to see the project come to Butte.

“ I think the public has spoken loud and clear,” said Butte-Silver Bow Commissioner John Sorich.

— Reporter Leslie McCartney may be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

http://www.mtstandard.com/newslocal/lnews1.html

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Destination Montana: Ambitious project planned for Butte

By Leslie McCartney of The Montana Standard

After months of rumors, speculation and options taken out on parcels of Butte property, the Butte Local Development Corp. and Florida devel oper Barrett Singer, president of Foxx Industries, have unveiled an ambitious project with a staggering $1.8 billion price tag.

Under his plan, Singer plans to use several tracts of land in Butte to house three professional golf courses, a high-altitude training facility, a football stadium and an entertainment district. That district would feature 40 music halls with acts from the 1960s and 1970s and 10 casinos offering wide-open gaming — from slot machines to roulette.

Planners say it will bring in 70,000 tourists and gamers regularly who will need rooms, food and want to spend their money here during their stay.

However, the entire package hinges on passage of legislation to OK the so-called entertainment district.

Introducing full-service gaming in a halfsquare-mile area in Uptown Butte also is what makes the project financially attractive to Wall Street banks, according to Singer.

“ This is why financiers like it,” Singer said.

However, he would not name investment firms or other people involved other than his partner Robert M. Tormey, a businessman from Ohio, citing confidentiality.

“ We have no signatures yet, and I’m not at liberty to say,” Singer said.

Called “ Destination Montana! Where the Stars Shine Brightly Under the Big Sky,” the project has been in the works for the past nine months or so.

“ This is not Las Vegas; it’s not glitzy,” said Singer at a meeting Friday morning in Butte. “ This will be a Currier and Ives postcard when we’re done.”

According to the developers’ timeline, con struction could start in spring 2004 and be fin ished as soon as 2006.

Foxx Industries would build the project but lease the buildings to casinos and entertainers. Singer said that the company has already spent in the “ mid-six figures” to secure options on build ings and land. It has taken options on 12 Uptown buildings, but Singer declined to name them.

“ We’ll control the tenants in the district,” Singer said.

And the project promises to sprinkle cash on various government entities, from schools to local and state government. This money, he says, would come from gambling machine fees, room fees, ticket fees and impact fees, among others. Singer also said that property taxes would amount to $32 million a year.

Local governments around the state would also get a cut, Singer said.

Evan Barrett, director of the Butte Local Development Corp., said that the project would fully energize not only Butte, but also all of south west Montana, with jobs and prospects luring res idents from Whitehall, Deer Lodge and Boulder. He also said that Singer and his partners have not sought money from the county or state in the form of grants, loans, free land or tax breaks.

Singer, 55, said he has been a Florida developer for more than 30 years and has built shopping centers, affordable housing, apartment buildings and other smaller-scale projects in the West Palm Beach area. He added that was active in move ments to revitalize that area in the late 1980s and 1990s and sees similarities between that city and Butte.

He readily admits he has not shepherded a project this large or costly, but downplays any difference.

“ It’s just a few more zeros at the end,” he said.

He is also fully confident that he will be able to get financing for the project. He said that he and his partners have to show money and commit to building the entire project — not just casinos — to proceed.

Singer originally came to Butte for another reason — an idea to sell Montana beef to China to be shipped from the Port of Montana. At that time he discovered the Uptown area with the help of Barrett, and fell in love with the Uptown’s architecture. He started forming an idea along the lines of Branson, Mo. That town has had great success with its musical venues and visitors, which Foxx wants to re-capture in Butte.

He added that the Butte project is more than just gambling — with emphasis on recreation and music venues.

However, Singer and Barrett reiterated that the dream depends upon passage of leg islation, which is being drafted by a Helena lawyer. They would not say who would carry the bill, but that they are talking to various legislators. The bill — which is site-specific to Butte and no other city in Montana — will likely be debated for several weeks in the session.

“ With the legislation passed, the project will go forward in its entirety,” Singer said.

If not, he said, he’ll return to Florida. But he said that he is attracted to Butte because of its unique historic district and recreational opportunities and the excitement of devel oping such a large-scale project.

Barrett added that the project represents a departure from Butte’s past and although everyone wants to see the Montana Resources’ mine reopen, the role mining has played in Butte has dimmed.

“ What is Butte’s future?” he asked. “ This sets the tone of Butte’s future.”

— Reporter Leslie McCartney may be reached via e-mail at leslie.mccartney(at)(at)mtstan dard.com.

http://www.mtstandard.com/specialreports/dest1.html