Friday, May 23, 2003
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Friday, May 23, 2003 |
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PTC Development Authority approves principal payments on restaurant loan By JOHN
MUNFORD
The Development Authority of Peachtree City will begin making principal payments on a $200,000 loan taken out to buy restaurant equipment for the Ashland Grille. The loan, secured last year through Regions Bank, has been paid on an interest-only basis, treasurer Brian Palmitessa said at the authority's regular meeting Monday night. The payments will escalate from almost $700 a month to nearly $3,700 a month, Palmitessa told the authority before it voted 6-0 to support the move; Chairman Tate Godfrey abstained because he is on an advisory board for the bank. The authority will use rental payments from the restaurant to repay the loan, Palmitessa said. The new operators of Ashland Grille also just made their first rent payment, he added. "It's almost a wash now," said authority vice-chairman Scott Bradshaw. The authority sought the interest-only financing for the first year of the loan because the original operators of Ashland Grille were given a lease that allowed them to have the first few months of rent free of charge, Palmitessa added. The interest rate for the loan is set at 90 percent of the prime rate, and Palmitessa said he didn't think the authority could get a much better deal elsewhere, although the authority could consult with other banks if it wished. Authority member Robert Brooks said the subcommittee consisting of authority and City Council members will work towards finding a way to pay off the $200,000 loan. He also indicated that a full itemized list of how that loan was used will soon be presented to Mayor Steve Brown and city council members. Brown requested that data and other information about the authority's other loans, some of which has already been presented to him, Brooks said. "We have much more in hard assets that the city has than some have projected," Brooks said. Brown has been critical of the authority's business practices, particularly in its operation of the tennis center. In other business, Godfrey reported that the authority received its most recent audit and that it was "clean." He apologized for forgetting to bring it with him but said he would forward copies to authority members. Authority executive director Virgil Christian said the amphitheater's summer concert series is sold out except for single tickets on Saturday night shows and is 92 percent sold for Friday nights. This is despite the 30 percent increase in ticket sales this year which the authority enacted to help balance its budget and shrink its reliance on hotel-motel tax funds, which was requested by Brown and the City Council. Christian also said the amphitheater's new jazz series has sold about 20 percent of its available tickets to date, but the main marketing campaign is on hold until the Atlanta Jazz Festival is over. That's because the authority is teaming with an Atlanta jazz radio station to promote the jazz series, which will begin in September, Christian said. "A lot of these folks will be coming from outside Peachtree City," Christian said. Christian also said the recent NAIA national college tournament went smoothly, but the tournament won't be back next year due to funding and logistics. The tournament will cost the authority between $5,000 and $7,000, and the Wyndham Peachtree Executive Conference Center kicked in another $12,000 to have the event here, Christian added. Authority member Scott Bradshaw said he noticed a number of NAIA teams dining at the Macaroni Grill restaurant when he went there during the tournament with his wife. Christian said the event accounted for 450 hotel rooms in the city.
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