Why Chet for the Y? A little nudge from Bill Knapp
KENT DARR Jun 28, 2016 | 9:22 pm
<1 min read time
0 wordsBusiness Record Insider, Health and Wellness, Real Estate and DevelopmentBill Knapp has not forgotten the land swap of 2012, an example of the heavy lifting that led to the downtown development boom and points directly to the Wellmark YMCA and an Olympic-sized pool that has been promised but so far undelivered.
It also points to Chet Culver.
“Why Chet?” you might ask. The former governor will start work July 5 as president of the YMCA of Greater Des Moines. President is the No. 2 position. He will report to Dave Schwartz, who started work June 1 as CEO, replacing longtime president and CEO Vernon Delpesce.
The board voted on Delpesce’s replacement in May.
Knapp, who was a principal fundraiser for the Wellmark YMCA project but is not on the YMCA board, supported Culver. Others did not.
Schwartz won the contested vote. But, in a compromise, president and CEO became two positions.
“I like Schwartz, but I also felt the same about Chet,” Knapp said today. So the board “worked out a compromise to create two jobs. … I think they’ll make a great team.”
To understand why Knapp cares so much about the leadership at the YMCA and the missing pool at the Wellmark YMCA, you have to go back to the details of the 2012 land swap. About $11 million also comes into play.
Four years ago, Des Moines Redevelopment Co., a nonprofit made up initially of18 businesses and business leaders who signed letters of intent promising their financial support, if needed, for the purchase and eventual development of downtown properties, bought the former Allied Insurance Co. building at Fifth and Park Street.
Bill Knapp and Jim Cownie are generally credited with mustering that group. Many others were involved. The Allied Building was transferred to Polk County, and today a long-sought convention center hotel is under construction at the site.
That purchase brought attention to a larger land swap that had been at least two years in the making. Again, Knapp was at the forefront. Rick Tollakson, president and CEO of Hubbell Realty Co., was involved too. At the time, he wanted to find new digs for the Riverfront YMCA. Tollakson is a longtime member of the YMCA board and he currently is the incoming board chairman.
Knapp told the Business Record in 2013 that he led the effort because “everyone else was busy.”
He arranged a “trade,” as he calls it, in which Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield gave up the former J.C. Penney building on Fifth Avenue so that Polk County could remodel the facility and alleviate congestion at the Polk County Courthouse. Wellmark got the Polk County Convention Complex at Fifth and Grand avenues in exchange and transferred the deed to the YMCA of Greater Des Moines so it could vacate the Riverfront YMCA at 101 Locust St. Wellmark also gave up an alley it owned on the west side of the Fifth and Grand property so the YMCA could build a swimming pool that would act as a tourist attraction and recruiting tool for the YMCA.
Knapp and Cownie also set about raising money for the swimming pool. The first $9 million needed for the Wellmark YMCA project came in a relatively short period. Knapp provided $1 million of that total. The rest, of course, has been more of a challenge.
Tollakson said another $3.2 million is needed to finish the fundraising for the swimming pool.
Knapp and Cownie also were recruited to the fundraising effort in part because then YMCA President and CEO Delpesce convinced them that federal tax credits could be obtained that would help pay for the pool. Two efforts to obtain about $6 million in the tax credits were unsuccessful.
Knapp said he didn’t blame Delpesce, but he was the messenger and he couldn’t deliver the tax credits.
Knapp had put his time, reputation and money on the line for a swimming pool. He wanted Culver to replace Delpesce.
Tollakson said today that Culver “interviewed very well” when he sought the job. Still, the nod went to Schwartz, who had proven himself in the private sector and was the favorite for his executive skills.
That led to a compromise in which the top spot would be split. Tollakson said the YMCA, even though it is facing financial challenges, can afford to pay two salaries.
Knapp said the brunt of Culver’s compensation will be linked to his ability to raise funds.
“Raising the rest of the money is not going to be easy,” Knapp said.
And the YMCA has other financial challenges, including competing with the Des Moines Area Community College fitness center in Ankeny, Tollakson said.DMACC and the YMCA had been in long-term discussions about partnering to create a facility on the DMACC Ankeny campus, but the two organizationsannounced in March that they would not partner.
“We’ve really got to have some major focus on capital funding,” Tollakson said. “It’s probably more than what Dave can handle on his own. If Chet’s as good as we think he is, it’s going to work out great.”
Culver is a proven fundraiser, Knapp said.
“It means a lot to me that the people who run (the YMCA) do a good job,” Knapp said. “With that kind of commitment, I wanted somebody who was very good. I think they will work together. I think they’ll make a great team.”
And Knapp isn’t forgetting about the $9 million he helped raise for the pool, the $1 million that he donated for the pool and the nearly $1 million that Knapp Properties paid the YMCA for land in Grimes that it donated to YMCA several years ago for a facility that will not be built.
“That’s a pretty good way to go broke,” Knapp said.
He was joking about going broke, but he is as serious as the man often referred to as the “king of deal makers” can be about getting the pool built. For Knapp, it is all about completing the land swap.
“I think that is the missing link, we’ve got to get that done,” he said. “That’s all there is too it.”
Read more about the land swap in this BusinessRecord.com story >>>
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