"Certain things have to be in place to ensure that the experience is really good for the consumer," Waite said. "If you make a mistake, that's it. You will kill your business very fast. Everything's got to be just right."
“I’m not sure why people are attacking Ray Gillen,” said Waite. “Do people remember what Schenectady looked like four years ago? They ought to be making him the king of the parade.”
I guess that anyone that receives the loans that Mr. Waite did would look at Gillen as a King too. And no matter how Gillen spins this, he was not forthcoming on the facts. They both knew that NOTHING was going to open at 411 State Street and yet on every single media interview, they gave dates as to when they would. Sorry folks but I call that a lie!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I attended the meeting of the Schenectady County Legislature during which Mr. Gillen presented his annual report on the Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority. I can confirm that Joe Suhrada was the only Legislator who asked any questions at the conclusion of the presentation. Mr. Gillen, with the support of Ms. Savage, attempted to evade Mr. Suhrada's questions. Gillen continually alternated the presentation slides that showed the before and after photos of the 411 State Street facade. Statements were made about how attractive the appearance of the new facade is in comparison to the former facade.
Mr. Gillen repeatedly tried to assert that the project was not about the Big House Project, but rather the 411 State Street project. Unfortunately for him, the Metroplex web site attests to the project proposal as concerning the establishment of a restaurant and bar named the Big House. The proposal also stated that there would be 40 to 70+ full time and part time new jobs created.
The issue at hand does not concern the building renovations, but rather Mr. Waite's use of tax revenues to finance (at 0% interest) the construction and his deception in stating that he would open a business at that location that would create jobs. His subsequent statements to the press indicate that he had no such intentions.
The failures of the Metroplex were not addressed during the annual presentation. The list of those failures include more than the Van Dyke Restaurant and the Big House and is seemingly increasing in length.
What is the status of the repayment of the loan by the Cyclics Corporation? The balloon payment has been deferred several times in the past. According to the project plan posted on the Metroplex website, the ~$1M loan balloon payment was initially due at the end of 2006
Cyclics Corporation - Cyclics Corporation - 25 high-tech jobs relocated to Schenectady in 2002 in part to Metroplex's $1,400,000 loan/grant. The 22,000 square foot office and laboratory space for this innovative plastics development company is expected to create 75 new jobs.
Metroplex Participation There are four elements to the financing, which may total $1,400,000: 1. Metroplex is making an unsecured $1,250,000 loan to Cyclics. Cyclics will pay the loan over a 5-year term at a 7.5 percent rate based on an agreed upon payment schedule. In order to accommodate Cyclics’ cash flow projections, Cyclics will pay no principal in the first and second years. With this, Cyclics pays no interest on $1,000,000 of the loan in the first year — instead, Metroplex will add the year-one interest to the outstanding loan balance. Structured principal and interest payments will commence in the third year to result in an unpaid balance of approximately $955,000 due and payable at the end of fifth year (2006).
From the Metroplex Meeting Minutes: January 9, 2008:
4. Cyclics Corporation: Resolution 497-08 - Amend Loan Term and Take Related Actions
Metroplex's $1.25 million loan to Cyclics Corporation called for repayment of the outstanding loan balance ($857,832) by December 31, 2007. The company paid $200,000 and requested an extension of the term. The Audit Committee recommended repaying the balance in three $200,000 installments in 2008 plus principal and interest payments of about $14,000 per month until the loan is paid in full. Mr. Lewis moved Resolution 497-08; seconded by Mrs. Hutchison.
In summary, the project plan stated that Cyclics Corporation would pay the (large) balance of the $1.25M unsecured loan at the end of 2006. The minutes of the January 2008 meeting of the Metroplex state that the loan balance was due on December 31, 2007. The loan repayment has been restructured with the hope of repayment occuring with three $200K installements plus principal and interest payments until the loan is paid in full. How long must we wait for the loan of public revenues to be repayed in accordance with the Metroplex funding agreement? Secondly, how long before the taxpayers will see a return on investment (ROI)?
Thursday, April 3, 2008 Former Big House brewpub in Albany owes state $44K in sales taxes The Business Review (Albany) - by Michael DeMasi The Business Review
The Big House Brewing Co. closed three years ago in downtown Albany, N.Y., but owner Stephen Waite said the state is demanding $44,000 in unpaid sales taxes from the business.
The state Department of Taxation and Finance filed a warrant in Albany County on March 19 to recover $44,614 from the former brewpub at 90 N. Pearl St.
Waite said he was told the money is owed for a period of time during which sales taxes weren't collected on admission charges to music acts performing on the third floor of the brewpub.
Waite said he initially didn't collect sales taxes on admissions because his accountant told him the charges were exempt.
Waite said he changed the policy after a state tax auditor informed him that admissions were taxable because the third floor performance spaces was considered a "rooftop garden."
From that point on, Waite said the sales taxes were collected on admissions until the brewpub closed in 2005.
"What they're coming after us for is something that happened seven years ago," Waite said.
Tax Department Spokesman Tom Bergin confirmed the warrant was filed but said he couldn't discuss Waite's tax situation because of privacy laws.
Waite, who is an attorney, said the state owes him about $70,000 in sales tax refunds because of other unrelated projects, including the bar, restaurant and office building he's developing in downtown Schenectady.
Waite has been under pressure to open the business in Schenectady, which has received $1.4 million in taxpayer-subsidized loans and grants from the Metroplex Development Authority. Waite has encountered numerous delays renovating a deteriorating, three-story building at 411 State St. into the new bar, restaurant and upper floor offices.
The facade is done but work remains on the interior.
Waite said the music club in the basement, which will be called Big House Underground, will open first but he declined to set a date because so many previous expected openings have been missed.
Waite also said he will satisfy liens that were filed on the property by two contractors once he finalizes the permanent financing. Advance Welding & Fabricating Inc. in Green Island filed a $39,507 lien in July 2007. Triple A Iron & Ornamental in Duanesburg is owed $14,000.
Wouldn't SOMEONE, ANYONE, consider this a credit risk????? And yet the Plex still throws taxpayer money his way. Credit checks should be done not only at the onset of a development, but should be on going until completion. That's the way it's done when we buy a home.
It is only common sense here folks. There are average everyday taxpayers out there who have better credit and can't get a home loan on a $100,000 home. Yet our gracious Metroplex, with millions of our taxpayer dollar continues to throw money at him.
And why is the state allowing Stephen Waite to slide on this one? Again the average person who owes money to the feds or state have their bank accounts frozen.Not to mention that your credit rating ends up in the toilet. Why is he allowed to continue developing while he continues to have these outstanding debts? It appears to be a credit risk to me. And the people who have been entrusted to watch over the taxpayer's money should be held responsible and accountable.
And as far as the statement by Mr. Gillen saying that the Metroplex is investing in 411 State St and not Stephen Waite is just plain BS. If that were true than Mr. Gillen wouldn't have approached Mr. Waite in the first place. He would have become the GC (general contractor) on the job and would have hired contractors to rehab the building and make it occupancy ready. This is just plain mis-management of our tax dollar and plain BS!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
(AP) - CHURCHVILLE, N.Y.-Richard Parsons Jr., a veterinarian in a country suburb 280 miles from ground zero in Manhattan, felt the ripple effects of Sept. 11, 2001, about a year later. It almost put him out of business.
Called up for duty with the Army Reserves in fall 2002, Parsons spent 10 months in Afghanistan. He hired a substitute vet and barely kept his one-man practice near Rochester from going bankrupt by obtaining a low-interest, $72,800 loan from a federal program designed to help small businesses recover from 9/11.
It upsets the 43-year-old father of two that all manner of companies in upstate New York not damaged in the slightest by the terror attacks - from chiropractors to auto-repair shops to fast-food franchises - could dip into the same $5 billion disaster-relief fund administered by the Small Business Association.
"It seems like when the government has a big pot of money, there's always charlatans that are going to try to, in some way, finagle out money," he said. "I guess when you're dealing with such massive amounts of money and numbers of applications, people are going to get away with things."
His words reverberated in cafes, on street corners and around the dinner table.
"It doesn't sound right to me, it doesn't sound fair," said security guard Doug Kleinhammer, 50, as he hopped on his motorcycle outside the World Wide News store in Rochester. "It's unnecessary spending of money. The people who needed it were those directly affected."
An Associated Press review of two Small Business Administration programs that doled out Sept. 11 recovery loans, found the government provided, approved or guaranteed nearly $4.9 billion in loans, and took credit for saving 20,000 jobs. That puts the average cost of saving a job at about a quarter million dollars each.
Of the 19,000 loans, fewer than 11 percent went to companies in New York City and Washington, an AP computer analysis showed. Officials conceded the SBA allocated few resources to oversee the congressionally-approved loan programs, leaving banks on an honor system to determine who should get terror recovery loans.
SBA documents obtained by AP show the banks had a strong incentive to approve as many loans as possible from the terror program - their cost was reduced in half.
The SBA said it first learned of the problems through AP's review and was weighing whether an investigation was needed.
Among the hardest-hit enterprises in places far removed from the devastation were travel agencies, tourist shops, food caterers, limousine fleets, hotels and bars. Americans weren't traveling far from home like they used to.
"The country as a whole was not in a jovial mood. We saw people drinking less, eating less and buying less tickets to special events," said Stephen Waite, whose three-story brew pub in downtown Albany saw a sudden 25 percent to 30 percent drop in revenues.
"It was like this kind of guilt feeling of, `There's no time for just foolhardily passing the time like we used to, we need to be serious and more into our family.'"
Waite, 51, a lawyer who recently sold The Big House Brewing Co., got a $1.1 million loan from the Small Business Administration's "supplemental terrorist activity recovery" program in 2002. Even though his nightlife venture took about 18 months to recover, he had no idea the fund was specifically intended to deal with the terrorist aftershocks.
"We just went through a banking group, that's a typical way to obtain loans," he said. "There was no discussion of the 9/11 situation. I wasn't even aware of that program.
"As long as people are filling out applications correctly, I guess I'm not as upset as I would be at the people approving them," he said. "I'm sure every governmental agency is going to get a ton of applications that don't fit within the program and their job responsibility is to reject."
Lorraine Serpe, 44, was on the brink of folding her Lorraine's Lunch Basket food-catering firm in Rochester when her $153,500 loan came through in June 2002.
"Business was just dead, it was just nothing," Serpe said. "We were catering to Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, Kodak and they just all stopped traveling. I was speaking to my accountant about the hard times I was in and, by a miracle of God, she said `Oh my God, I've heard of this disaster relief fund.' She says `Try it, try it!' I tried it. I explained my situation and they said I qualified."
Thre "affected the world," Serpe said. "It affected me, and I'm only in little Rochester."
In contrast, chiropractor Colby Shores said his business in Irondequoit, a Rochester suburb along Lake Ontario, was unaffected. While his patients "were devastated" by 9/11, "they weren't putting their health second to anything else," he said.
Nonetheless, Shores obtained a $87,000 loan with a 4 percent interest rate. He, too, said he was unaware of the type of program he was tapping into.
"I had nothing to do with the financing," he said. "I hired a contractor and they found the correct amount of funds I needed for my small business loan."
In Bath in western New York, Arvind "Andy" Patel, 50, said his $350,000 loan in fall 2002 to remodel his Dunkin' Donuts store was arranged through a bank approved by the fast-food chain's corporate office.
Patel, a native of Bombay, India, who bought another Dunkin' Donuts in Wilmington, Del., in 1998, moved into his Bath store on Sept. 6, 2001.
The catastrophe five days later had no impact on his business. "Not at all," he said.
Quoted by the author who posted this original link:
Quoted Text
Looks like Mr. Waite makes a living by finding ways to get his hands on free government money. He's not a successful business man, but he sure knows how to get government subsidies.
I just choked on my sip of coffee!!! Stephen Waite is a true lawyer that knows exactly how to work the system. And knows how to slither his way out of anything!
So what does this say about Gillen's character? Business and personal? Remember folks...Stephen Waite was Gillen's hand picked choice. 'Thank you Mr. Gillen for spending our taxpayer's money so responsibly'!
Quoted Text
Gillen first approached Waite with the idea of opening a business downtown in 2004
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
METROPLEX CHAIR SAYS BIG HOUSE HUBBUB IS A LOT OF HYPE
Posted on: 05/02/08 Written by: Ross Marvin, Spotlight Staff
Waite said he’s currently in the process of raising $400,000, which he said would complete the construction of several additional safety features. He said he’s already invested $1.6 million into the building.
Quoted Text
Waite, 51, a lawyer who recently sold The Big House Brewing Co., got a $1.1 million loan from the Small Business Administration's "supplemental terrorist activity recovery" program in 2002. Even though his nightlife venture took about 18 months to recover, he had no idea the fund was specifically intended to deal with the terrorist aftershocks.
I guess you could draw the conclusion that of the $1.6 million of his so called personal investment, $1.1 million of it was a low interest federal loan through the SBA for those affected by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Metroplex and the generous taxpayers of Schenectady County also gave him $1.4 million in grants and 0% interest loans. So out of the $3 million invested into "The Big House" project, 2.5 million was paid for with County, State, and Federal subsidies. Now let's subtract the $199,999 from the $500K, a more realistic representation of his personal investment. That $199,999 would be the difference between Metroplex's $200K purchase price from James Commarto, and the $1 sale to Sharidan Hollow Inc, another Waite company(what a steal!). Now we're down to $300,001 of personal investment, or 10% of the total project. And I'm sure that the $300K will work itself out over time with the tax savings he will receive through Empire Zone savings. Mr. Waite is a real risk taker. The Schenectady County residents owe him a debt of gratitude to go along with our debt of tax dollars, for his unselfish commitment to Schenectady.
Who's the bigger criminal, Jeffery Civitello or Steven Waite? If Carl Strock and the rest of them at the Gazette did their jobs, they would be telling us who's the bigger menace to society.
Legal Notice Albany Times Union January 7,2008 NOTICE OF SALE STATE OF NEW YORK SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF ALBANY Index No.: 7047-06 RJI No.: 01-07-088669 THE GREEN FUND, INC., Plaintiff, -against-SHERIDAN-PEARL ASSOCIATES, ROBERT J. PALMIERO, CPA, SOURCE ONE NETWORK and SHERIDAN HOLLOW, INC.,and "JOHN DOE" and "JANE DOE" being fictitious and intended to be persons, tenants, occupants or corporations, if any, having or claiming an interest in or lien upon the premises described in the complaint, Defendants. PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that in pursuance of the judgment of foreclosure and sale duly made December 13, 2007, and entered in the above entitled action, I, the undersigned referee in said judgment named, will sell at public auction inside the Eagle Street entrance of the Albany County Courthouse at Albany, New York, on the 7th day of February, 2008, at 10:00 o'clock in the forenoon of that day, the premises directed by said judgment to be sold are therein described as shown in Schedule A annexed hereto. SCHEDULE A ALL that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the City and County of Albany, State of New York now known as Street numbers 88 and 90 North Pearl Street (formerly known as Street Number 64 and assessed as 90 North Pearl Street) situate on the southwest corner of said North Pearl Street and Sheridan Avenue (formerly Canal Street) in the 5th (formerly 6th) Ward of the City of Albany, bounded north by said Sheridan Avenue; east by said North Pearl Street; south by the north wall of the brick building formerly known as number 62 North Pearl Street, the former residence of the late Elizabeth Brinckerhoff, and west by lot number 4 now or formerly owned by Thomas J. Sherwood, on Canal Street (now Sheridan Avenue) supposed to be about 61 feet on Sheridan Avenue and 29 feet 11 inches on North Pearl Street to the north wall of the late Elizabeth Brinckerhoff, on the South by the north wall of said house of said Elizabeth Brunckerhoff 60 feet and 3 inches; and on the West by said lot now or formerly owned by Thomas J. Sherwood, 57 feet 4 inches by the size more or less. Said premises will be sold subject to zoning restrictions, covenants, easements, conditions, reservations and agreements, if any; subject to any liens on the premises that are not extinguished by this foreclosure action; subject to any state of facts as may appear from an accurate survey; subject to facts as to possession and occupancy and subject to whatever the physical condition of the premises may be; subject to any violations of the zoning and other municipal ordinances and regulations; if any; and subject to the equity of redemption of the United States of America, if any. Dated: December 27, 2007 Daniel J. Centi, Esq. McNamee, Lochner, Titus & Williams, P.C. By: Francis J. Smith, Esq., Attorneys for Plaintiff 677 Broadway, P.O. Box 459, Albany, New York 12201 Telephone: (51 447-3200 TU-4 3170605
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
These articles were published publicly. All of these articles hit the internet LAST. I believe they were all aware of these issues. Past and present. Stephen Waite was chosen. We now know Stephen Waites past and present situations. So did the ones who chose him. What does that say to you? Need I say more?
WHY did Gillen persue this man/company to come downtown - to continue his course of business after he was shunned in Albany County? What positive attraction could he have that would warrant Gillen et al persuing him as a responsible tenant, re-habber, businessman? I haven't seen ONE thing yet.
Gillen knew what he was doing right from the beginning. No attributes or requirements needed. Gillen knows how to spend the taxpayers money and Waite OBVIOUSLY knows how to get it!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Logged
And yet the Plex still throws taxpayer money his way. Credit checks should be done not only at the onset of a development, but should be on going until completion. That's the way it's done when we buy a home.
