ICYMI on KPBS Roundtable: The city of San Diego strikes a deal that allows it to move on from years of legal fights over the asbestos-tainted high-rise that was supposed to be a new hub for city workers. Listen ➡️
S1: It was supposed to be a home base for city workers , but instead it's wasting public dollars. This week , San Diego is trying to close the Money Pit at one on one street. So what's next for the vacant downtown high rise ? I'm Matt Hoffman , and that's our focus This Week on KPBS roundtable. Hello and welcome to KPBS Roundtable. I'm your host , Matt Hoffman. And joining us to dive into one of San Diego's biggest financial blunders are those who have covered it closely.
S1: Voice of San Diego's Lisa Halberstadt is another local reporter who has done a lot of work on this story , a lot of investigative work. Scott , we know that you were her editor many times on those stories. So let's talk about money here. $132 million. You guys mentioned it before. S3: Remember , the city's case is that there was a criminal level conflict of interests with this , that their real estate advisor , Jason Hughes , who had volunteered for the city and was advising them on this deal , had a conflict of interest because he had a contract with the sellers , the landlords of these buildings , that if the city made this deal , he would give 45% of the profits. If they didn't , he would give he would have to pay 45% of their their losses.
S4: Jeff can correct me if I'm wrong. When city staff that they had been leasing this building and nobody had moved in yet and people were starting to wonder why the city city staffers went to the city council and told them that the cost of all of the repairs for this building was way more than what they had previously estimated. And they gave the council , I think , three options. There was a pretty complete renovation , medium reservation , a renovation and a more modest one.
S3: I think it's attractive to a lot of readers as a as a concern about taxpayer dollars and obviously accountability. It's also an interesting mystery. There's there's a bunch of sub dramas and interesting questions we still don't have the answers to about why different things happened along the way.
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