Development and Real Estate

Cruise Ship Terminal Finances Terrified Port Director

By Joe Eskenazi Tue., May 14 2013 at 9:59 AM
Categories: America's Cup, Development and Real Estate
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How's that penciling out?
The news that the city's nascent cruise ship terminal could well lose the city boatloads of money is disturbing -- but hardly unanticipated.

Last year, SF Weekly obtained a January 2012 e-mail from Port of San Francisco Director Monique Moyer to members of her staff lamenting the proposed cruise ship terminal's financial baggage:

"I just don't see how we can commit the Port to financial instability by committing to these obligations. Frankly, the cruise terminal isn't worth the risk. ... Sorry to be the 'Debbie Downer' on this, but I spent a sleepless night and I came to the conclusion that I can't be the one who does this to the Port."

See Also: America's Cup Sailor Refers to Boats as 'Godforsaken Deathtraps'

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America's Cup: Sailor Refers to Boats as "Godforsaken Deathtraps"

By Joe Eskenazi Mon., May 13 2013 at 12:45 PM
Categories: America's Cup
ArtemisCrashNoahBergerAP.jpeg
What comes next?
The off-the-water element of the America's Cup has been the antithesis of smooth sailing. Mayor Gavin Newsom and the "city family" pushed a series of fiscally disastrous deals with Larry Ellison -- only for the yachting billionaire to pull the plug on the cusp of all-but-certain approval by the Board of Supervisors, forcing a scaled-down arrangement.

The 17 or so racing syndicates organizers dazzled city officials with have been whittled down to four. And just how much money the city is going to bleed into the event and how much the private fund-raisers "endeavored" to raise remain contentious issues.

The one thing everybody on both sides of the issue could agree on was that the race itself -- the end result of all this contentious bickering -- would be a marvel. Space age boats, world-class crews, the backdrop of San Francisco Bay: Instant classic.

Or so we'd thought. The death of British Gold Medalist Andrew Simpson last week when the Team Artemis boat broke up in relatively routine conditions has thrown even that into doubt. Doubt, in fact, may not be strong enough a word. A crew member on one of the America's Cup boats had this to say to the New Zealand Herald:

"I hope like hell that whoever survives this thing and wins it changes the boat class to anything safer than these God-forsaken death traps."
See Also: Sailor's Death in Boat Breakup Forces Painful Questions


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Andrew Simpson: Sailor's Death Following Boat Breakup Forces Painful Questions

By Joe Eskenazi Fri., May 10 2013 at 11:15 AM
Categories: America's Cup
ArtemisCrashNoahBergerAP.jpeg
Noah Berger, A.P.
The wreck that cost Andrew Simpson his life
Andrew "Bart" Simpson is dead, and that's tragedy enough. Sadly, however, it can't end with that.

The Olympic gold- and silver-medalist drowned on the bay yesterday when the America's Cup AC72 catamaran he was racing with Team Artemis broke up, flipped, and trapped him beneath it.

The British sailor was just 36 -- and God forgive the polemicist who pushes a worldview by crassly exploiting this sad event.

And yet, questions must be asked. And, as anyone even loosely following the America's Cup knows, this is the second time the technologically advanced but crash-prone AC72s have flipped on the bay. In October, a Team Oracle catamaran foundered, causing great damage to the vessel but no injuries to the crew.

Yes, there's a pattern here -- but yesterday's crash was far more disturbing, and not just because a man was killed. October's mishap came as a result of a world-class crew attempting a difficult maneuver with a highly sensitive boat during extreme conditions. Yesterday, however, preliminary reports indicate that Artemis' catamaran simply broke up during a relatively placid day on the bay.

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America's Cup Fiasco Reaches France -- Merde!

By Joe Eskenazi Mon., Apr. 1 2013 at 11:59 AM
Categories: America's Cup, Media
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Vance Cardell
...tous les membres de l'assemblée se sont fait foutrement avoir
Readers wondering how the French are seeing the ongoing fiasco that is the America's Cup -- and how they'd translate the line "all the members of the Board of Supervisors were fucking played" -- have been granted a two-for-one special.

Last week, Le Monde ran a short story titled "Qui paiera la facture de la Coupe de l'America?" (Who will pay the bill for the America's Cup?). The article neatly encapsulated the ongoing tussle surrounding the incredible shrinking regatta: Organizers now actually embrace a revised prediction claiming the race will bring far less business to the area than initially pledged. They also claim that tax revenues from the scaled-down race will offset anemic private fund-raising.

This was not part of the original deal -- and no one pointed that out more  forcefully than Supervisor John Avalos. Here's how he put it:

See Also: Prior America's Cup Coverage

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Will Airbnb Stiff San Francisco During America's Cup?

By Joe Eskenazi Mon., Mar. 25 2013 at 12:55 PM
Categories: America's Cup, Government
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Vance Cardell
Nice boats! Where are you staying?
Our across-the-hall colleagues at the Guardian have written a bit about how there seems to be a great degree of ambiguity regarding whether Airbnb is forking over the hotel taxes the city claims it owes.

It's always a pressing question whether a politically connected company is paying its fair share. But it becomes more so when a flurry of hotel taxes is now being relied upon to make up for anemic America's Cup fund-raising.

We've written a lot about this, so forgive us for being a broken record (and forgive us for using an analogy younger readers don't understand). But it's a risky proposal to assume that hotel and other revenues will be so much greater than usual during the America's Cup -- held in peak tourist season -- that the city will make up the money it spent to hold the event (which private fund-raisers have failed to amass).

It'll be even riskier if swaths of San Francisco visitors are using a service that doesn't contribute its fair share of hotel taxes.

See Also: Dueling Takes on Sinking America's Cup Report

Super Bowl, Other Mega-Events Don't Deliver Guaranteed Boons

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America's Cup: Who's on the Hook for Private Fund-Raisers' $5 Million Loan?

By Joe Eskenazi Fri., Mar. 15 2013 at 12:30 PM
Categories: America's Cup
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Somebody owes somebody else some money...
For those who may or may not enjoy watching syndicates of wealthy men race boats on the bay -- but definitely don't want the city to lose money on the deal -- this has been a beguiling week.

New projections put the expected public and private benefits of hosting the America's Cup way down from prior numbers -- but also pare back the anticipated city costs of hosting the event.

The latter is, ostensibly, good news. The private America's Cup Organizing Committee, tasked to "endeavor" to raise $32 million to compensate the city, is dead in the water. It met its benchmark last year of raising $12 million only via a last-minute influx of $8 million from the America's Cup Event Authority, which is putting on the race. At the time, this was characterized as an advance on future revenue-sharing.

In the year and change since, the ACOC has managed to only amass an additional $1.9 million in written donor pledges. And that cash advance from race organizers is now being characterized as a loan. This prompts the pertinent question of who will be left holding the bag for that loan if the ACOC does as well paying it back as it has thus far of raising funds for the city.

See Also: Dueling Takes on Sinking America's Cup Report

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America's Cup: A Novel Take on Vastly Scaled-Back Expectations

By Joe Eskenazi Wed., Mar. 13 2013 at 11:59 AM
Categories: America's Cup
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Think of the money we'll save!
Most San Franciscans picking up the paper the day after the Super Bowl would be reading sad headlines about the 49ers' agonizing loss. That's bad. But, hypothetically, those headlines could have noted that the city had been spared an expensive and destructive post-win riot. That's ... good?

This is the scenario facing San Franciscans today. Readers of the San Francisco Business Times on Monday saw "America's Cup economic impact lowered to $780 million from $1.4 billion." Examiner readers today saw "Cup economic benefits downsized." For the most part, that's bad.

Yet today's above-the-fold, Page One story in the Chronicle notes that "Cup costs down by millions." That's ... good?

It's certainly convenient. Without stumbling into the realm of conspiracy theories, with the private America's Cup Organizing Committee reeling in its attempts to "endeavor" to raise $32 million to offset city costs -- and on the very day of a hearing called by Supervisor John Avalos to check on progress -- here comes a report claiming far less private money is needed to satiate the city.

That city hearing is, at this very moment, under way. But a number of vexing questions still remain. And a number of misconceptions are still being bandied about.

See Also: The Cup Runneth Over

More America's Cup coverage

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America's Cup: John Avalos Says "All the Members of the Board of Supervisors Were F**king Played"

By Joe Eskenazi Wed., Feb. 13 2013 at 2:35 PM
Categories: America's Cup
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Can't fucking believe it
News broke over the weekend that the America's Cup Organizing Committee, a private group tasked with fundraising to offset the race's public costs, is struggling mightily. Logically, public money not offset by private funds is simply public money expended -- in this case on a yacht race thrown by one of the world's wealthiest men.

Of course, as we noted earlier this week, this was the precise scenario warned of, repeatedly, by numerous budget-minded city officials not cheerleading the race. We noted this last year. We noted this three years ago. There's been no shortage of noting.

Now Supervisor John Avalos wants a hearing into how this circumstance, foretold repeatedly by the city's bean-counters and America's Cup contrarians, could have come to pass. And he's angry.

See Also: Losing Millions on the America's Cup Was Foreseen

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America's Cup: Losing Millions Is the Exact Scenario We Were Warned About, Repeatedly

By Joe Eskenazi Mon., Feb. 11 2013 at 10:35 AM
Categories: America's Cup, Government
Let's all take a bath
The news over the weekend that the city could be left holding the bag for millions the America's Cup Organizing Committee has failed to provide is a revelation in the same sense that it's revelatory that promiscuous couples in horror films tend to be killed off.

The very real possibility of San Francisco being made to cough up scores of millions of America's Cup dollars is, in fact, the exact scenario warned of by prudent city officials not cheerleading for the event. Just as so many filmgoers futilely shout "don't go in there!" to ill-fated protagonists, so San Francisco was warned regarding the America's Cup.

We went in there. And now it may cost us. And, in fact, it may cost us a bit more than the (dismal) figures bandied about over the weekend.

See Also: The Cup Runneth Over

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America's Cup: Larry Ellison's Oracle Team Fined for Spying on Italian Team

By Erin Sherbert Tue., Jan. 8 2013 at 8:48 AM
Categories: America's Cup

I spy espionage
Larry Ellison's Oracle team has taken another tumble after being slapped with charges of espionage on a rival team.

While spying isn't unusual in the America's Cup, a international jury of sailing experts concluded that Ellison's sailing team went a little too far when they sailed a little too close to Italy's Luna Rossa 72-foot catamaran while it was practicing on New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf in November.

According to press reports, Oracle's cameraman came within 200 meters of Luna Rossa, breaking the race rules. Now Oracle has to pay a $15,000 fine, as well as hand over photos of the Italian team's boat. In addition, it will be suspended from five days of practice, which is something not even Ellison can afford.

See also: America's Cup: Team Oracle Boat Capsizes by Golden Gate Bridge (Video)

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