La Fiesta now up for lease

The eerily vacant La Fiesta property in San Roque, which is costing the government at least $200,000 in lease payment every year, is now up for “lease, development or revitalization.”

Since the former mall shut its doors in 2004, the property has become a wasteland—glass walls and floors are now broken, metal railings are now rusty, paint has peeled off, plants had dried out, and decorative structures are beyond repair, among other structural problems. The government has not earned a single cent from the property since 2004.

The Fitial administration now wants to make the property, located across Palms Resort in San Roque, “productive again.”

“We seek private sector development proposals for the productive use of the property for the CNMI’s benefit. We are open to any legitimate, lawful and promising business proposal,” press secretary Charles P. Reyes told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

Finance Secretary Eloy S. Inos and Procurement and Supply director Herman S. Sablan said special consideration will be given to proposals that will develop the La Fiesta property “into a promising and sustainable tourist attraction and entertainment complex.”

In the request for proposal, RFP09-SOF-051, Inos and Sablan said the government will consider only those proposals that are serious, legitimate and practical, and which maximize the economic potential of La Fiesta—both short term and long term.

Under the two-page RFP, the lease, redevelopment and revitalization of the La Fiesta property includes upgrading and renovating all existing facilities within the commercial complex.

Interested parties have until Feb.27 to submit their proposals to the office of the Division of Procurement and Supply in Lower Base.

Northern Marianas College purchased the property for $3.5 million in 2003 using federal money from the Office of the Governor, but turned it over to the Executive Branch under Babauta’s term. The government now pays at least $200,000 a year in lease payments.

Reyes said the previous administration’s decision to purchase the remaining leasehold interest in the property was “one of the worst and most disastrous financial decisions ever made by a CNMI governor.”

“This decision burdens our government with a very substantial, multi-million dollar liability over many years. We are currently obligated to pay at least $200,000 a year in lease payments for this property, which is not generating any income or investment returns. It is a pure liability inherited from the previous Babauta-Benavente administration,” he added.

Last year, the Department of Commerce proposed to the CNMI Zoning Board to turn the mall—three corridors of retail space totaling more than 37,000 square meters—into an “adult business park.” Prior to that, there were reports that the property would be converted into a casino.

At one point, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. held offices there, while the Northern Marianas College used some parts of the mall for classes.

The La Fiesta Mall was erected in the early 1990s and officially opened in December 1992. The mall had over 60 tenants in the ‘90s.

In March 2007, Bridge Capital LLC bought interest on the property from the Japanese-owned Coco’s Lagoon Development. The CNMI government, which acquired the building in 2004, is now paying Bridge Capital about $200,000 a year for the lease of the idle property.

Bridge Capital, a lending company, is a different entity from Bridge Investment Group, which plans to operate a casino on Tinian.