Joe Montana gets OK from Santa Clara for stadium hotel...

[Upton]

Santa Clara leaders have agreed to huddle up with legendary quarterback Joe Montana, who wants to build a four- or five-star hotel across from the San Francisco 49ers stadium.

The City Council on Tuesday night voted 4-2 to begin exclusive negotiations with the business group fronted by Montana. The vote was expected after officials in July promised to cooperate with Montana, who excited Niners fans when he unveiled the idea at a public meeting last year.

City leaders and Montana's group will have one year to battle over how much money the Hall of Fame player and his associates will contribute to the Santa Clara general fund for the right to build on city-owned land. Montana says he has the money to build a luxury hotel garnering at least four stars, a sports bar, an "upscale" restaurant and "additional entertainment uses" that would open with the new Niners stadium before the 2014 NFL season.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_20950442/joe-montana-gets-ok-from-santa-clara-start

Good for Joe. Sounds great. I hope this hotel deal works out.

The city of Santa Clara is also appealing the decision by an "oversight board" to divert $30 million of the money approved by the voters and promised to the 49ers into schools (schools? sure, I bet lol)..It's only approximately 2-3% of the total cost of the stadium, but I believe they feel there's a principle involved here..

Live view of construction as the 49ers look towards an opening for the start of the 2014 season: http://newsantaclarastadium.com/live-view

[JonLP24]

1. Interesting

the money for the schools was approved by county voters while the funding for the stadium construction was approved by city leaders.

There's just one glitch, however: The new state law gives counties complete control over doling out the property tax revenues from former redevelopment areas. At a meeting in Santa Clara City Hall on Friday, the oversight board voted 4-3 to keep the money from the 49ers and spend it instead on local governments and schools.

"Let's be real: That stadium is going to get built whether or not you get this $30 million," county tax collector George Putris, the oversight board member who proposed the motion, told a 49ers attorney at the meeting.

http://www.mercurynews.com/southbayfootball/ci_20926306/49ers-stadium-santa-clara-county-yanks-30-million-tax-funds

County tax collector is right but before this bit of news about a hotel, articles were predicting lawsuits such as 49ers suing either city or country. City or county suing each other. What a mess that would have been.

[Upton]

2. Yeah, the state elimination of redevelopment agencies is the problem..

Now counties control what do with the tax revenues meant for the former agencies. That's where Putris and his $30 mil motion comes in. If I remember correctly, he was against this project from the beginning. I find it interesting he waited until construction was well under way until he pulled this crap. I don't trust him.

Like with anywhere else, there are many people who are opposed to publicly financed stadiums, I'm not entirely unsympathetic to that stance myself, but the people of Santa Clara have spoken loud and clear..

I'm afraid there are still going to be lawsuits..though I sort of wish the 49ers would just eat this 30 mil, they could make it up in any number of ways, instead of going to court which may strain the relationship between the 49ers and city and county of Santa Clara. The thing is, if you let stadium opponents pull this without a challenge, what will be next?

[JonLP24]

4. I consider myself to be a stadium opponent

but I'm also a realist to the situation. A city denying public funding just causes the team to move which strengthens other team's relocation threats since it becomes an example. Which is why I feel Stern pushed Seattle relocating so hard to scare other cities. In the end I'm probably more of a good deal supporter rather than an opponent or supporter.

49ers could actually get their city their money back if only if the 49ers sell a lot of PSLs. Santa Clara doesn't have the negotiators found in DC or Miami. It will take decades for those cities to get their money back from their baseball teams.

My biggest problem with the 49ers stadium is actually how state-of-the-art it is going to be. You could also add in University of Phoenix Stadium to this. Stadiums like this raise the bar on what is adequate which causes more teams to want new stadiums/renovations in other cities.

[Upton]

3. And it begins..

Tuesday hearing set for disputed stadium funds

In what the 49ers called "a positive first step," a Sacramento Superior Court judge today ordered Santa Clara County to hold $30 million of disputed funds until a Tuesday hearing. The 49ers filed suit against the county Wednesday, and the request for a temporary restraining order was the first step.

The $30 million originally was earmarked toward the 49ers' $1.2 billion stadium in Santa Clara. In June 2010, voters approved the allocation of redevelopment funds for the project. After that point, however, the state scrapped redevelopment agencies and put counties in control of their funds. Last week, a county board that oversees property tax from redevelopment zones announced it would rather spend the $30 million elsewhere, such as on education.

The 49ers now will challenge that move in court. The team used the promise of the redevelopment funds to help secure the bank loans that make up the bulk of the stadium funding. The 49ers stressed that the dispute will not affect the construction time table. They plan to open the new stadium in 2014.

"The stadium is a public-private partnership success story," said CFO Larry MacNeil in a release. "The cash advanced by the 49ers, backed by the RDA commitment, leveraged hundreds of millions in new funding to create one of the largest construction projects in the state. After just a few months it has created several hundred jobs, provided a positive regional economic impact and funding for the Santa Clara School district. By this fall, there will be 1,000 workers on this job."

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/49ers/archives/2012/06/tuesday-hearing-set-for-disputed-stadium-funds.html#storylink=cpy