Aggressive plans for a $350 million, 1,000-acre equine and entertainment center in Republic have been restrained by funding hurdles, according to the developers and city officials.
“We are still waiting on the lender to give us the go-ahead,” developer representative Carl Scott said last week. “There’s been two or three times we’ve been real close to moving forward and we are still in that stage.”
Republic Planning and Development Director Gail Noggle said she hasn’t spoken with developers since early July. Talks had been occurring monthly for two years prior.
“I just got tired of calling and hearing the same old story, to be honest,” said Noggle, who was instrumental in getting the group of developers to consider building in Republic. “Supposedly, they are still trying to get their financing together.”
To get the project started, developer representative Scott said a group of roughly 30 investors put up funds to pay for preliminary plans and help secure the bulk of the financing. Scott declined to name investors but said working with London-based HSBC bank offices in Los Angeles and New York, an account established in Hong Kong should soon allow the developers to indirectly have access to funds stateside.
Scott declined to disclose the California-based corporation that intends to fund the proposed Eclipse Event Center, but he said international investments key to the complex financing deal have been the primary obstacle.
“We’ve had a really tough time getting money into the country,” said Scott, who’s been hired to represent the development company, Eclipse Event Center LLC. “What we’ve had to do is go with HSBC Hong Kong because we couldn’t really get in the country in the orderly fashion that we wanted.”
After leading zoning changes approved by the city’s council last year, city planner Noggle said the project has all the municipal pieces in place to move forward.
“We went through all the formalities. We got the property annexed in. We got the property owners at the table with them. We got the property zoned and the (Transportation Development District) approved and it is all sitting there gathering dust at this point,” she said.
Introduced in late 2011, the Eclipse development plans called for indoor and outdoor arenas, 60 cottages, manmade lakes with 64 lakefront cabins, 30 condos, an RV park, spa, fitness center and an 11-mile cross-country course for riders. Scott and company also proposed holding 12 horse shows per year, as well as rodeos, trade shows, conventions and concerts.
Last year, Mernye Langer, a principal of Burbank, Calif.-based equestrian consulting and development company Langer Equestrian Group Inc., cast doubts about the grand plans in southwest Missouri. Langer, who’s worked on projects such as the city-owned WestWorld in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the Los Angeles Equestrian Center and its 55 miles of trails, was taken aback by the size and scope of the Republic project.
“It’s quite large. This would make me want to ask, ‘Who is paying, and how is it going to support itself?’” Langer said at the time, noting the recreational components of the Republic center are rare for the size of the facility proposed.
In summer 2011, PFI Western Wear owner Randy Little had considered sponsorship opportunities at the equine center but said last week he hadn’t spoken with developers in more than a year. Little has employed a wait-and-see attitude with regard to the complex.
“I could say tomorrow, ‘Do you want to go to the moon with me?’ But, unfortunately, I don’t have the rocket or the money to get there,” Little said.
At this point in the process, several companies have invested time and energy into developing the plans.
McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. has racked up bills of $300,000 for its planning and cost-estimating services, according to a spokesperson for the St. Louis-based contractor. Kathryn Rickard Hundman of public relations firm ComTech Partners said national contractors McCarthy would be reimbursed for its work as the project moves forward.
Kelly Short, a project manager with civil engineering firm CJW Transportation Consultants LLC, said CJW had performed preliminary site work for the developers last year ahead of a zoning change approved for the project by the Republic City Council in April. The engineers also completed a traffic study and coordinated future road plans with the Missouri Department of Transportation.
Short said Bob Garrett, another Eclipse developer representative, contacted him in early August as he was updating financial information. But he hasn’t heard anything since then.
“We’re just waiting. I’m optimistic it will go forward once everything is worked out on the financial side,” Short said, adding the company was partially paid for its services, though he declined to disclose the balance. “We’re just waiting for that hammer to fall.”
Once Eclipse funds are in place, Scott said closing on 11 properties in the complex footprint is the first priority. Then work can begin with MoDOT to add lanes to an overpass at Interstate 44 and James River Freeway, as well as road improvements near the south end of the property where a Gamble’s T-Stop truck-fueling station is planned.
Despite delays, Scott said the plans have not been scaled back. McCarthy will work as the construction manager for the center, which he expects to be fully in place in less than four years.
“If this funding is actually available this time and we don’t have any more hiccups, we’ll close on property next week and we’ll be able to start turning dirt by the first of next month,” Scott said.
The $350 million Eclipse Event Center would carry a footprint of roughly 1,000 acres at the northeastern edge of the city of Republic, if financing becomes available.
