Mosaic Development Partners, LLC made a presentation to the Coatesville City Council meeting on Monday April 27, 2009. Mosaic's presentation was approved by Coatesville Redevelopment Authority at their April meeting.
To be honest it, in my opinion it looked more like a “get rich quick” seminar in a hotel room, complete with admonishments to “act now”, than a developer’s presentation.
Mosaic Development Partners incorporated last July and the only references that I have found about the company refer to the flats development in Coatesville. They apparently have no corporate website. UPDATE There is a website here:
http://hstrial-greaves1.homestead.com/index.html
If you click on "Projects" a "This page is under construction." note comes up.
The company was formed at about the same time Mosaic made their first presentation to the RDA. Could it be that Coatesville is the only potential customer they have approached? It is almost as though the company was formed to develop the flats in Coatesville. They have no references, but dropped a few names.
I really do not know very much about incorporating a company but is it possible that Mosaic Development Partners, LLC has something to do with the Democratic Republic of the Congo? See:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/leslie/smallwood
They seem like good, well educated, energetic people but it is quite an undertaking for a brand new company.
Since there were no visual parts to Mosaic Development Partners presentation listening is almost like being there. Listen to the presentation and question & answer session here:
http://www.box.net/shared/kpiece1y3l
The Daily Local News posted an article about Mosaic's presentation
Developers propose shopping center for The Flats-By JENNIFER MILLER, Staff Writer
at:
http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2009/04/29/news/srv0000005215387.txt
A presentation was made 6/11 by a Mosaic Development Partners here in Philly to develop a project at 10th & Diamond Sts for Sen Shirley Kitchen and her group, the Metamorphosis CDC. Could they possibly be the same group? I have no infor about this group other than the Consultant, Lamar Wilson, says he worked for APM a successful Latino CDC.
ReplyDeleteCould someone direct me to any info they gave you??
Instinct tells me Mosaic's long suit is politicking, as in large contributions in exchange for greased wheels for government loans. This company couldn't get a nickel from a commercial bank. So a project at 10th and Diamond, a place where no one else would put any project, seems about right. I look for them to leverage these sites with taxpayers money and run.
ReplyDeleteMosaic's primary source of Funding for the Flats is coming from The Redevelopment Fund (TRF), which is a private non-prifit lender. The only reason they are able to provide financing is because they have not tied up assets in the tradiional (and as we know now, highly risky) securitizations that the usual suspects have (every other for profit lender). Underwriting over there is pretty strict. Additionally, you should thank your stars that they didn't get this going perhaps a year sooner as financing could have very well come from one of those private lenders that no longer exists; at which point you'd have exactly waht you don't want now: an unfinished project.
ReplyDeleteAs far as 10th and Diamond, if you look at the redevelopment plan laid out for the entire city of Philadelphia, that area is basically on "the edge" of redevelopment boundaries. How long did it take to bring back the girard / franford corridor aka 'Northern Liberties / Fishtown?". Better half of a decade. Demographic data suggests the next area erlative to those locations are north philly. The same thing is hapening in West Philadelphia.