Authority Board, Led By Charlie Williams Owns [Ford Field & Comerica Park]

Woodlawn Post; Detroit Tigers

DETROIT - The authority board is led by Chairman William Wolfson, a private attorney. Also on the board are Jimmy Settles, a UAW regional vice president; Jack Martin, the city of Detroit’s CFO; George Jackson, president of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.; Robert Warfield, Detroit’s director of communications; and Charlie Williams, president and CEO of MPS Group Inc. and former deputy county executive.

The public board owns Comerica Park and adjacent Ford Field, which opened in 2002 and is the home of the Detroit Lions. Both the Detroit Lions and the Detroit Tigers have 35-year leases.

Woodlawn Post; Detroit Tigers

The authority leases the stadiums to Wayne County, which then subleases them to the Detroit Downtown Development Authority. In turn, the DDA had concession and management agreements with the Tigers and Lions that define how the teams operate the stadiums.

State law limits the stadium authority’s bonding ability to baseball stadiums, Collins said. Hence, the Lions raised $420 million of Ford Field’s $500 million cost from corporate donations, including $50 million from Ford Motor Co., and debt financing.

The other $80 million came from the city of Detroit, Wayne County, DDA and Michigan Strategic Fund. The money was used for supporting infrastructure, such as water and sewer lines.

Tigers owner Mike Ilitch borrowed $140 million in August 2005 from a syndicate of 11 financial institutions, led by what is now Sumitomo Mitsui Bank, to refinance what had been $115 million in debt remaining from the original $145 million loan to build Comerica Park, the industry magazine Sports Business Journal reported at the time.

The other $80 million came from the city of Detroit, Wayne County, DDA and Michigan Strategic Fund. The money was used for supporting infrastructure, such as water and sewer lines.

In 1997, about $80 million in 30-year tax-exempt bonds were issued to pay for the ballpark, with the remainder being financed by the owners of Comerica’s sole tenant, the Detroit Tigers.

About $15 million has been paid so far on the ballpark, which opened in 2000, he said. The bonds are paid off by a 2 percent rental car tax and 1 percent hotel room tax approved by Wayne County voters for the stadium in November 1996.

New York City-based Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association are the bond underwriters and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors LLC the retail broker for the bonds.

Detroit-based Dickinson Wright PLLC is the authority’s bond counsel.

Source: CrainsDetroit

Short URL: http://woodlawnpost.com/?p=58768

Posted by WoodlawnPost on Aug 23 2012. Filed under Business, Business, Detroit Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.