Response to
Councillor comments
Tim
Banks responds to complaints about property
March 18, 2008
Members of Council,
Like the City of Summerside, APM and I are very cognizant of our
“brand”, and rumours and innuendo in the public about our Company in
relation to a property that we haven’t yet taken possession of
causes me concern as to how APM is perceived by the public. I have
had three media calls on Council ' s comments last night, and my
name, along with APM’s, is being associated with an “eyesore” even
though we are not the property owners. We understand Council’s
desire to keep your City clean and safe , but laying blame at our
doorstep without the facts is not acceptable.
APM has a long history of fully developing projects , bringing jobs,
investment and choice to Summerside , such as the Granville Street
Plaza, the new Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart, Superstore, Northgate
Apartments, etc... and until we get possession of this property we
don’t think Council should be discussing our name in Public unless
it’s associated with something that is within our control.
For your information we are scheduled to “close” this deal on April
4th and take over the property then. As you are probably aware, the
retail development climate and economy is kind of “in the toilet”
these days and although we believe we may have something immediate
for part of the property, we don’t want to put any big plans out
there until they are achievable, as we like to deliver on our
promises. In the interim it is our intention, once we take control
of the property, to clean up the graffiti and safely secure the
property until we have a firm deal to develop it. W e would be
prepared to sit down “off the record” and discuss such with whoever
Council would like to represent them. For the record, there is
asbestos roof sheeting in the existing roof system which is quite
safe and only has to be dealt with environmentally if we decide to
demolish parts of the existing building, which may or may not
happen, depending on who we secure as end users for the property.
APM are firm believers in Summerside and we want to bring more jobs,
investment and choice to the City. We will undertake to do our best,
but let’s start off on the right foot and not raise the bar of
expectations too high, as was done in the case of the Waterfront
Mall Development.
I am currently out of the Country and if any of you would like to
discuss this matter you could email me or contact Brian Gillis who
will be back in our Charlottetown office after today.
Regards
Tim Banks
