Tailgate88 said:

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Delucia performed more journalism in that interview than every other "journalist" in town combined on this subject.

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Tailgate88 said:

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Delucia performed more journalism in that interview than every other "journalist" in town combined on this subject.

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The only media still locally owned.

Hornbeck said:

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Mayor said the company that was going to buy Macy's went bankrupt, and the city had to step in, correct?

Emails in this thread - Jim Lewis telling Natalie Ruiz "you screwed me" say otherwise.

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funny thing is, I have never paid double for an item at a bankruptcy sale



"GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE!!!!!!!
HURRY HURRY PRICE DRASTICALLY INCREASED!!!!!
100% INCREASE ON ALL ITEMS!!!!!
ACT NOW BEFORE JIM LEWIS BUYS IT!!!!"

The mayor got defensive and there is a good reason for it - he knows he messed up and got caught.
He can't answer the questions about WHY and WHAT IS THE PLAN...because he has no answers.

His basic argument boils down to:

• we have ideas about what we could do with it
• our city is well run
• every other city does the same thing
• the city needs to be strategic in economic development
• and did I mention we have some ideas

What he failed to mention was:

• ideas aren't plans
• it is obvious the city is not as well run as he thinks it is
• everybody else...cliffs...something something
• strategic city development doesn't mean risking taxpayer money to the tune of millions in losses
• some ideas are bad ideas

Ive heard the argument in a couple of different cities about "other towns of similar size do abc and xyz". Its just an excuse to spend more of OPM.

Reading the document release and watching the Nichols interview doesn't quite seem to jive. I wasn't left feeling warm and fuzzy about how the Mayor responded. His reference to this board's "assertions, not facts" are not supported by his own city staff's emails.

There was an actual buyer (Jim Lewis) with an actual development plan (Area12) that the city blocked by way of MASSIVELY OVERPAYING for the structure right before Mr Lewis closed the deal.

Cartographer is correct. The city manager is the problem here. Runs his underlings with an iron fist and they won't disagree with him... has his personal vision/agenda and doesn't care about others' opinions or facts.

He led this Macy's mess and he's leading the charge to completely get rid of Northgate.

Our council members and mayor do not have time or ability or experience with running a city so they all pretty much take the "advice" of the city manager since he's the "expert".

Until he is gone, the city going to keep having these decisions made.

MyNameIsJeff said:

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2020 said:

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Reading the document release and watching the Nichols interview doesn't quite seem to jive. I wasn't left feeling warm and fuzzy about how the Mayor responded. His reference to this board's "assertions, not facts" are not supported by his own city staff's emails.

There was an actual buyer (Jim Lewis) with an actual development plan (Area12) that the city blocked by way of MASSIVELY OVERPAYING for the structure right before Mr Lewis closed the deal.

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I may have missed it, but do we know how much Lewis was going to pay? I know it had sold recently for the $3.xx million amount.

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It's clear the city was willing to go as high as the 'appraised value'.

Duffel Pud said:

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MyNameIsJeff said:

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2020 said:

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Reading the document release and watching the Nichols interview doesn't quite seem to jive. I wasn't left feeling warm and fuzzy about how the Mayor responded. His reference to this board's "assertions, not facts" are not supported by his own city staff's emails.

There was an actual buyer (Jim Lewis) with an actual development plan (Area12) that the city blocked by way of MASSIVELY OVERPAYING for the structure right before Mr Lewis closed the deal.

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I may have missed it, but do we know how much Lewis was going to pay? I know it had sold recently for the $3.xx million amount.

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It's clear the city was willing to go as high as the 'appraised value'.

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Seems somewhat disingenuous when they are using the people the city hand picked to do the appraisal, not a disinterested third party.

Duffel Pud said:

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MyNameIsJeff said:

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2020 said:

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Reading the document release and watching the Nichols interview doesn't quite seem to jive. I wasn't left feeling warm and fuzzy about how the Mayor responded. His reference to this board's "assertions, not facts" are not supported by his own city staff's emails.

There was an actual buyer (Jim Lewis) with an actual development plan (Area12) that the city blocked by way of MASSIVELY OVERPAYING for the structure right before Mr Lewis closed the deal.

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I may have missed it, but do we know how much Lewis was going to pay? I know it had sold recently for the $3.xx million amount.

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It's clear the city was willing to go as high as the 'appraised value'.

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The appraisal district had it at $3,850,147 at the time of purchase. Not that they are always correct on value but when the City purchases something double that number it should be a red flag to someone in the organization.

2020 said:

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Reading the document release and watching the Nichols interview doesn't quite seem to jive. I wasn't left feeling warm and fuzzy about how the Mayor responded. His reference to this board's "assertions, not facts" are not supported by his own city staff's emails.

There was an actual buyer (Jim Lewis) with an actual development plan (Area12) that the city blocked by way of MASSIVELY OVERPAYING for the structure right before Mr Lewis closed the deal.

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Well, Mr. Mayor, in the absence of transparency to members of the city council, all we can do is try and piece this together from an Open Records Request, because you have a tangential relationship with the truth, is my reasoning for all the assertions.

tu ag said:

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His basic argument boils down to:

• we have ideas about what we could do with it
• our city is well run
• every other city does the same thing
• the city needs to be strategic in economic development
• and did I mention we have some ideas

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In a vacuum all those things might be fine to say. And I'd even say had they paid a fair market value based on a handshake deal with the university re: e-sports and the university backed out, we wouldn't all be too terribly livid, or more anger would be directed at A&M.

The problem is when you add in all the (now) known information surrounding how this all went down + the lack of transparency to the taxpayers + the overspend + still no buyer +...+...+....and then he still has the arrogance to say they know best on decisions like this.

Admit your faults, take accountability and come up with a solution to get us out of this boondoggle.

91_Aggie said:

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Cartographer is correct. The city manager is the problem here. Runs his underlings with an iron fist and they won't disagree with him... has his personal vision/agenda and doesn't care about others' opinions or facts.

He led this Macy's mess and he's leading the charge to completely get rid of Northgate.

Our council members and mayor do not have time or ability or experience with running a city so they all pretty much take the "advice" of the city manager since he's the "expert".

Until he is gone, the city going to keep having these decisions made.

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and despite other options, wanted to run a sewer line for College Station through a neighborhood in Bryan tearing it up along the way with a 30-foot bore pit 20-feet deep

several on that city staff are trying to kill Northgate

Are we flooding Wood's city # with questions and complaints?

DonHenley said:

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Are we flooding Wood's city # with questions and complaints?

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Are we flooding Wood's city # with questions and complaints?
No consideration for the people that have to work extra hard to pay property tax. People should complain. DOGE


Macy's story reminds me of a Hallmark show, where someone leaves the big city and winds up in small town USA. They want to convert the old general store that closed in 1988 to a bed and breakfast with organic treats and baby goats. Then falls in love with the ol' football running back.

91_Aggie said:

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Cartographer is correct. The city manager is the problem here. Runs his underlings with an iron fist and they won't disagree with him... has his personal vision/agenda and doesn't care about others' opinions or facts.

He led this Macy's mess and he's leading the charge to completely get rid of Northgate.

Our council members and mayor do not have time or ability or experience with running a city so they all pretty much take the "advice" of the city manager since he's the "expert".

Until he is gone, the city going to keep having these decisions made.

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The city manager may have been the major problem, but I bet he didn't just wake up one morning and think, Oh, I think the city should purchase the Macy's building, I suspect that either the mayor at the time or the council at the time (which the current major was on) asked him to investigate the possible purchase so that they could control its future use.

I bet the current major just wants to deflect all the comments until he is out of office.

This certainly shows that Scott Delucia and Bill Oliver are the only news reporters left in this town worth a follow. I can't see KBTX accomplishing what Delucia did with their whole staff and a week of interviews.

Here the full truth boiled down to a single line:

Those that have claimed they know what they are doing, do not.

Little mental exercise I would like to do.

Assuming Jim Lewis bought Macy's for $3.74M. In 2022…

Wonder how much tax revenue that would have generated?

We can't know what his sales tax receipts would be. We could make a low guess…

I think Mayor Nichole needs to be confronted with THAT number as well. I'm sure he will be just as cavalier.

Hornbeck said:

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Little mental exercise I would like to do.

Assuming Jim Lewis bought Macy's for $3.74M. In 2022…

Wonder how much tax revenue that would have generated?

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I'm no mathematician but I'd wager it'd be more than the current negative $10k monthly cost.

2020 said:

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Hornbeck said:

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Little mental exercise I would like to do.

Assuming Jim Lewis bought Macy's for $3.74M. In 2022…

Wonder how much tax revenue that would have generated?

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I'm no mathematician but I'd wager it'd be more than the current negative $10k monthly cost.

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You're no mathematician?

Have you considered applying for a job in city leadership?

Since WTAW is looking at this: Thank you for an excellent excellent interview! The video of the body language of the Mayor told me all that I needed to know about this deal.


From the City Manager prospective, their careers are either up, out or retirement in place.

- Out requires breaking the law.
- Up requires taking a risk (at no expense to yourself). If it works, you get hired away by some other City to do it for them.
- Retirement in place - Just don't break the law.

IMO: The CM is totally safe with our City Council. Not sure how many votes it would take to replace him, but my read is that less than half the current council would even consider it. Like it or not, the current CM rules the roost and can make all the unilateral decisions that he wants to.