Real estate appraiser C.L. "Charlie" Knight presented a valuation for the International Plaza site that Corbett would have been crazy to dispute. Corbett renegotiated the ground lease in 1985 and agreed to pay a perennially escalating minimum yearly rent that would reach $1-million by 1999. Corbett thought that was too high and Knight whipped up an appraisal of support. "The authority has a letter from C. L. Knight, MAI, stating his opinion that the annual minimum rent provided in the lease is in excess of fair market value," airport staffers told authority members in a memorandum for their Feb. 1, 1996, meeting.
Knight's appraisal is dated Jan. 30. But Knight didn't deliver the document to Corbett until March 5, more than a month after the authority voted to reduce the rent.
With that vote, the authority forfeited $600,000 in 1997, $690,000 in 1998, and $790,000 in 1999.
Knight's Jan. 30 appraisal relied on rental income figures for the property that could be projected only after the authority amended the lease on Feb. 1. "There was a letter issued separately after they had the work done and prior to the report indicating the valuation," Miller said. "The report was not in its final form." At the time, Bean told the authority that the minimum rent provision in the updated 1985 Corbett lease had outlived its usefulness. "The purpose of this minimum, the only purpose for this minimum, was to provide an incentive for the lessee to develop the property," Bean said.
Corbett's Concorde Cos. signed what is known as a lease arrangement agreement in 1994 as a big step toward developing the shopping mall. Airport officials talked in 1996 as if construction of the mall was imminent. But ground wouldn't be broken for another two years.
Thayer, who was chairing the authority by 1996, was careful to abstain from voting on the rent drop. "Our firm, which I am with, has had a long-term representation of Concorde Cos., both past and present," Thayer said.
Hillsborough Commissioner Chris Hart asked Thayer for permission to make a motion to reduce Corbett's rent. "I think it is in the best interest of good economic development and I think we are properly safe in the role of government to promote private enterprise," said Hart. With Thayer abstaining, Hart's motion passed unanimously.
In a recent interview, Hart said he deferred to Eggert with his 1996 vote. "Here, we have our counsel telling you it's OK," said Hart. "Where else do you go? The attorneys implied we had no choice."
Never mind that Knight, who died in 1998, was working for another client in the vicinity of the airport at the same time. The Tampa Sports Authority retained Knight in late 1995 to appraise 67 acres between Dale Mabry Highway and Himes Avenue, a bit east along Columbus Drive from the International Plaza site. Sports authority members wished to sell the land to the aviation authority. Unlike Corbett, sports authority officials wanted a high valuation because they needed the sale to fund the planning for what became the new Bucs stadium. Also, in contrast with the airport, the sports authority sought two appraisals and paid for both. Within days of Knight valuing the airport land at $18,871 an acre for Corbett, the appraiser decided the sports authority land less a mile away was worth $433,358 an acre. Another appraiser valued the sports authority land at $372,240 an acre. The FAA saw no discrepancy. "Both appraisals noted significant characteristics of the sports authority land which differ markedly from the characteristics of the International Plaza land," the FAA said in its 2000 report. The aviation authority ended up paying $288,000 an acre for the sports authority land, which the airport supposedly needed for runway clearance. Based on that sale, West Shore Plaza owner Grosvenor calculated that Corbett's ground lease payment for 1997 should have been $2.2-million. The aviation authority had slashed it from $800,000 to $200,000.
Nobody outside of the aviation authority, least of all local news reporters, paid much attention to the seemingly impenetrable discussions of land appraisals and lease amendments. That is, until International Plaza developers started signing up choice anchor tenants such as Neiman Marcus in 1998. After almost 20 years, Corbett's grand development dream was gaining momentum. In 1994, Corbett's Concorde Cos. had entered into the lease arrangement agreement with Tampa Westshore Associates Ltd. Tampa Westshore Associates was a joint venture between Corbett and Taubman Centers Inc., a Michigan real estate investment trust.
Still, Corbett and Tampa Westshore Associates needed more time. Concorde Cos. had agreed to be building by March 1998 when, around the time of the 1994 inking of the lease arrangement agreement, Corbett's outfit signed a lease restatement that called for a shopping mall on the site. The 1994 restatement extended Corbett's lease until 2080. At a March 5, 1998, authority meeting, Hart moved to extend Corbett's deadline six months. Greco seconded the motion. Approval was unanimous. During the summer, Grosvenor operatives began going through the aviation authority's massive files on the International Plaza project. What they found made them anxious to see Greco, Hart and company in September.
