ST. JAMES HOTEL GOES TO POT, STRIPLIN GOES FREE, AND PERKINS GOES ON TO MORE DEALS
6-19-07
In 1997, the St. James Hotel on Water Avenue opened with great fanfare and great hopes that it would be the showplace of the South and centerpiece of Selma's waterfront development. TEN YEARS LATER, the facility is in shambles and the City is looking for someone to run it.
The question is, "What happened?" The answer is, "James Perkins became Mayor." Under his watch, the facility has deteriorated to the point it will take hundreds of thousands of dollars to put it in tip top shape again. Remember the prosperity of the St. James before Perkins became Mayor. The hotel was the showplace of Selma, even though there were management problems from the beginning. The City gave Larry Striplin's Investors Group a "sweetheart deal" whereby Striplin's group would lease the hotel from the City for $100.00 a month for 99 years. The Investors would have total control of the facility and were responsible for its upkeep. They had the option to buy the hotel - which costs almost $6 million - at the end of ten years (December 2007).
It looked like a good deal for the City, which would get the lodging tax revenues from the hotel as well as taxes from the food and drink service and the benefit of many guests visiting the City. The Investors got a hotel AND ALL THE PROFIT THEY MAKE FOR A MERE $100.00 A MONTH. To be fair, the investors did put about $1 million of their own money into the total cost of the hotel, so they needed to get that back before they would make a profit.
WHEN PERKINS BECAME MAYOR, THE HOTEL STARTED TO DETERIORATE. The clientele changed. People were sleeping in the lobby and bar areas. Service in the dining room and bar deteriorated. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, Perkins and the City Government refused to enforce the lease with the Striplin Group which plainly and clearly required the Striplin Investors to spend whatever money was necessary to keep the hotel in good repair and up to the standards of a first class hotel and eating establishment.
Why did Perkins not enforce the City's lease with Striplin's Group and make them live up to their lease agreement? Our opinion is because Striplin was the largest listed contributor to Perkins' mayoral campaign. Our opinion is that Perkins was too involved in trying to get the City to pay Striplin $1 million for property behind the Old Wal-Mart for a new high school. We are not saying that Perkins would have gotten any of the money for the sale of the property. What we are saying is that Perkins was too close to Striplin to insist that Striplin's Investors live up to their obligations under the terms of the lease and keep the St. James in proper repair.
We do not say that the investors have not lost money at the St. James in the last 3-4 years. In fact, with the service, or lack thereof, offered by the St. James, we imagine the investors have lost thousands of dollars; HOWEVER, THAT WAS THE RISK when the lease was signed in 1997, which included an opportunity to also make a profit, if the Hotel were run right.
Our main concern is Mayor Perkins has caused or permitted this to happen because he was too close to the investors to enforce the terms of the lease against his friends and contributors. Now, he has persuaded the City Council to LET MR. STRIPLIN GO FREE - TO GET OUT OF THE 99 YEAR LEASE AFTER LESS THAN 10 YEARS - AND TO GET OUT WITHOUT HAVING TO FIX UP THE HOTEL FOR THE NEXT GROUP WHO TAKES IT OVER.
Following is the letter Striplin wrote to his friend, Mayor Perkins, proposing the No Fault Termination agreement with the City. The Mayor presented it to the City Council and the Council accepted it as written. YOU CAN DECIDE FOR YOURSELF WHO GOT THE BEST END OF THIS DEAL AND WHO GOT THE SHAFT AGAIN...SELMA TAXPAYERS!!!
