(Via Visit Mesa)
By Scott Shumaker | Mesa Tribune
A year after Bell Bank Park opened to great expectations, the park has hosted hundreds of thousands visitors and reported 4.3 million individual visits in Mesa, but it remains under a dark financial cloud since defaulting on the terms of its loan in October.
The profits the park was expected to generate never materialized, putting its owner’s ability to make loan payments on the $280 million in tax-free municipal bonds that financed it in jeopardy.
Most recently, Legacy Cares missed a $10 million payment due Jan. 1, and it still owes contractors $30 million in back payments for the park’s construction.
The project’s cash is down to $22 million left in a reserve fund for loan payments, leaving questions for some about how Legacy Cares has spent $260 million on its development.
After Legacy Cares missed a January deadline to submit an audited financial report for fiscal year 2022, the public remains in the dark.
What all this financial doom and gloom will ultimately mean for users at the 320-acre park is unclear but a recent court filing, hints that a management change could be coming.
