College administrators have refuted that, arguing that they are caught between commitments to the downtown project and punitive leasing terms at their current location.
Glendale Career College’s current lease at 1015 Grandview Ave. ended in March 2005, the original date at which administrators had planned to make the move. But that date was pushed back so that the school, together with developer Dorn Platz Co., could secure the necessary permit allowing 119 fewer parking spaces than would normally be required.
It took three years’ analysis and negotiations between Dorn Platz and the city to agree on a set of preconditions for the parking exception before it was finally approved in February 2007.
The three-year delay has been an expensive one, college attorneys say, mostly because the school has had to pay penalty fees for overstaying their March 2005 lease agreement. Those fees have financially drained the college to the point that it must either find a buyer or close, said Steve Davis, a Virginia-based attorney who is representing the college.
“We’ve suffered tremendous losses over the last three years,” he said.
That, combined with a city requirement that the college post a $1-million cash bond to ensure its move to another location after three years on Brand Boulevard, was just too much, Davis added.
“There’s not many people who can afford that,” he said.
Even so, the city’s three-year effort to work with multiple parties in order to reach an agreement is testament to its commitment to see the proposal through.
