Teachers Retirement System Of Texas

AP Enterprise: Stadium plan could aid AEG's condos

The company that wants to build an NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles announced a milestone in mid-February: It had sold the first unit in its nearby luxury condo project that towers above the skyline.

Anschutz Entertainment Group neglected to acknowledge, however, that it had bought the Ritz-Carlton-branded condo unit itself.

That omission obscured how hard the housing slump has weighed on the company's flagship residential project, which has been hit with millions of dollars in mechanics' liens in recent months as it struggles to unload its pricey units in the soft market.

Recognizing those troubles could give added bargaining leverage to city officials working on a stadium deal with AEG, which has cast Los Angeles as the big winner -- in jobs, development and prestige -- if the plan for a 72,000- to 76,000-seat sports venue on the city's convention center site goes forward.

AEG on Wednesday released results from a pair of independently completed economic studies that say its plan could yield $41 million annually in new tax revenue, and that the stadium and related convention center improvements would boost the number of conventions in the city each year.

But AEG's troubled condo project would also have much to gain from a project that could quickly convert the condos from an apparent drain on the company's cash into a moneymaker for the firm.

"It's in their best interest to make a deal with the city to get their initial investment in a stronger position," said City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who co-chairs a committee of elected officials tasked with evaluating the stadium deal.

The company's proposal calls for the city to issue up to $300 million in bonds to finance the demolition and relocation of the convention center hall the stadium would displace. AEG officials have said they would ask the city to let it use stadium ground lease payments, new property tax revenue and money from its convention center signage rights to repay those bonds.

The condo project was itself the upshot of an earlier deal with city officials, who required AEG to include a hotel in its plans for the massive entertainment complex known as LA Live because the area was short on guest rooms for convention center visitors.

AEG added a 1,001-room hotel building to the 27-acre swath of restaurants, bars and theaters, but it topped the mirrored-glass high-rise with 224 condo units to get a quicker turnaround on its investment than just guest rooms would provide.

Teacher Retirement System of Texas files suit to keep top 10 ...

“It is hard to imagine in these days of budget constraints a matter more directed to the public interest than this information,” said Joseph Larsen, a board member of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. “There is no legitimate reason for TRS to withhold this, and it appears to be to protect the interest of the pension holders rather than to act in a responsible administrative capacity.