Who would have thought —there’s a snafu in the redevelopment of the rundown Bessemer Shopping Center:
The city of Greensboro has asked the developers of the rundown Bessemer Shopping Center on Phillips Avenue to front the $2 million they have promised before giving them a $2 million loan for renovations, said former Guilford County Commissioner Melvin “Skip” Alston, who represents the developers.
…“It’s not a question of whether they have the money or not, it’s just a question of whether or not the process is fair and the process is according to the way they do other things,” Alston said.
I guess once the city decides to get into the shopping center business in the first place, they can set whatever terms they want. But to Alston’s point, the city’s all about incentives for infrastructure and investing in so-called shovel-ready sites for purely speculative projects. This spec site isn’t different from any other, except that it is.