Beach-based developer L.M. Sandler & Sons Inc. is behind on tax payments, postponing major developments, and at the center of uncomfortable talk about the financial stability of its business.
But what does that mean to the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, the Town Center landmark named in their honor?
Not much, city officials say.
To understand any potential impact, it helps to understand how the $46.7 million building got its name.
Was it always going to be the Sandler Center?
No. City officials agreed to build the center if the private sector came up with roughly $12 million. The other $35 million is to be paid with bonds. City officials then asked brothers Art and Steve Sandler to donate $8 million of that private total. In the fall of 2005, the pair agreed to pay $5 million.
Have they paid the whole donation yet?
The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts Foundation won't say. Dorothy Wood, foundation vice chair, said the foundation is a private entity and will not release information about pledges from any donor. "Our privacy is a way to encourage philanthropy," she said.
The foundation doesn't have to report individual donations to the city, said Patricia Phillips, the Beach's finance director. The foundation does have a deal to pay the city the nearly $12 million, but the organization has until 2017. To date, roughly half of the tab has been settled, putting the foundation ahead of schedule.
What happens if the Sandlers don't fulfill their obligation?
That would be an internal issue for the foundation, not the city. The foundation is responsible for the $12 million. The Sandler brothers do not owe their donation directly to Virginia Beach.
So what if the foundation can't pay?
Phillips said there is no evidence that would happen. If it did, the city would "have to examine the options at the time," she added.
Does this affect the center's operations?
No. The foundation's deal with the city is to pay back construction costs. Emily Spruill, the city's cultural affairs director, said the operations of the building "are proceeding as normal."
Staff Writer Deirdre Fernandes contributed to this report.
Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com
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Last time I checked
The foundation committed to the city to raise $12 million and actually has raised over $15 million and is still raising more. Wonder why that was left out of the story?
All the wordiness
Why Ms. Wood just say no...
So . . .
If the foundation gets all but $1 million of the $12 million from other sources, including some who donate more than the Sandlers, they can still choose to give the naming rights to the Sandlers. Except . . . here is where the marketplace of ideas comes into play. We ordinary citizens hear that and think "But that is outrageous--it would be totally hypocritical to have their name on something that they did not endow!" Well, if not today, at some point in the future, someone on the foundation will become disaffected and spill the story. That is, if the Sandler brothers have not and will not pony up the $$$. It is only fair. Otherwise, any one of us could promise a phantom $12 million and get places like Pembroke Mall renamed for us. It doesn't work unless the money is there--at least it won't work long term. Patience, my friends. I am sure a foundation person or two will be talking to the press off the rec
double speak
Which is it....is the money paid or not? It's easy, yes or no! Can any one on the city staff in a position of authority answer this? This thing never should have been built in the first place!