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Back to the Drawing Board

The Commissioners thought they had a deal last month to sell the Ameritrust complex for 35 million dollars to the K&D Group, who would then redevelop the long-abandoned property into a mix of retail, work and living spaces. But then, K&D said they could only come up with 20 million up front, and wanted the country to lend them the remaining 15 million. Since that would violate the original terms of the deal, the Commissioners are re-writing the bid specs, and will open the bidding process again, this Thursday.

SIMONS: Deals have nine lives.

Cleveland State real estate expert Robert Simons says the renegotiating of deals happens all the time. But, he adds that the County is going to have to be more flexible on it's demand to get back what it has already spent on the property.

SIMONS: If the county's goal is to get out of this project, then what they have into it is pretty irrelevant. Might be important for face-saving purposes, but in terms of the realities of today's market, it's going to bring what it's going to bring.

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David C. Barnett was a senior arts & culture reporter for Ideastream Public Media. He retired in October 2022.