Records Show Grand Spending On USOC Building Work
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- City records suggest a developer improperly spent part a $2 million grant to keep the U.S. Olympic Committee headquartered in Colorado Springs, though it appears the money eventually was repaid.
Attention to incentives intended to keep the USOC in town grew again last month when fired city employee Terri Velasquez alleged that grant funds the El Pomar Foundation awarded to the city in 2008 were mishandled.
LandCo Equity Partners was the development firm initially chosen to build the USOC headquarters building. According to documents requested by The Gazette (http://bit.ly/oei7rs), city records show the firm spent nearly $94,000 of the grant money on banners and legal fees in violation of the grant's terms.
The grant specified that the city was to spend $500,000 for tenant improvements and relocation expenses associated with the USOC's move to temporary quarters during the construction of a new headquarters building downtown, according to city documents. The remaining $1.5 million was to renovate the old gas operations building into an office building for the National Governing Bodies.
On Jan. 5, 2009, Velasquez sent an email to LandCo Chairman Ray Marshall seeking reimbursement of $93,804 "and any additional draws that have been made that are not supported by the Economic Development Agreement." She gave Marshall 30 days to pay.
The city documents obtained by The Gazette don't specify whether LandCo reimbursed the money, but former Mayor Lionel Rivera and city spokeswoman Mary Scott told the newspaper Friday that LandCo reimbursed the city as part of a settlement agreement after the initial deal to retain the USOC fell apart.
"The money was used appropriately," Rivera said. "Once we discovered things that we didn't think were correct, we fixed them or we made LandCo fix them."
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