Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

After trying for weeks to find some information about who paid to build the Via Vite restaurant on Fountain Square, the City Manager’s office has attempted to satisfy our requests without supplying a single supporting document.  More on that in a minute.  Let’s presume 3CDC really did pay $2.5 million to build that restaurant.  Was it the worst business deal, ever?

3CDC entered into a ten year lease with Via Vite for as little as $60,000 per year.  So let’s do some math.

In ten years, at the minimum rent, 3CDC will have collected $600,000.  That’s still $1.9 million short of paying construction costs, not figuring anything for interest.  At this rate, it would take over forty years to simply pay for the restaurant construction.  Would 3CDC really enter into something so radically unprofitable?

Then again, the lease does stipulate that the amount will be whichever is higher, between $5,000 monthly or 5% of gross proceeds.  Maybe 3CDC makes more each month.  But how much more do they make?

As a private corporation, 3CDC is not subject to open records laws.  And here we have another problem with the entire premise of what’s happened at Fountain Square.  Many details are secret! 

So is Via Vite making significantly more than $100,000 monthly in gross proceeds?  By how much?  What would be an educated guess?  What does that make their monthly lease payment?  Taken as an average over ten years, how much would be paid to 3CDC in that time?  Is it even close to $2.5 million? 

If not, why would 3CDC take this deal?  Why would they pay to build a $2.5 million facility if it were not possible for them to make a profit?  If it were not possible even to repay the costs?

Did 3CDC get something out of this deal when they assumed some portion of the responsibility from the City of Cincinnati through that ground lease with 5/3 Bank?  If so, what did they get?

Wouldn’t it have to be pretty good, for them to take on this responsibility for the City?

Why won’t the City just provide a single document to substantiate any of these details?  Where is the agreement between Cincinnati and Fountain Square, LLC regarding the Via Vite facility?

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