The Downtown Deal by Mike Dennis Page B

private investigator, I'm bound to
confidentiality. Now what's the story."
    Even
though my conversations with Colby weren't bound under any circumstances,
license or not, I was going to treat this one as if it were, so I spoke from
the heart, filling my voice with sincerity. Way in the back of my mind,
however, I knew if I learned anything vital, I would turn it over to Frank
Madden.
    He
sighed, then slumped back into the thickness of the sofa. "Ryan and I were
arranging financing for him. We had a big loan just about set with a pension
fund in California."
    "A
big loan? How big?"
    "In
the neighborhood of forty-three million dollars."
    "Forty-three
million? What's Olivera need that kind of money for?"
    "He
wants to buy Blake's land downtown."
    My eyebrows
shot up. " Blake's land? Blake owns nearly ten times as much as
Olivera. I thought Blake wanted to buy Olivera's little strip of land."
    "He
does. But he's not going to get it."
    "Well,
I'm not too steeped in real estate expertise, Colby, but I can tell you, from
what I know of Blake, he's a tough customer. He'll never sell that land to
Olivera."
    "He
will when crunch time comes." His voice was even and clipped, and it
carried a lot of authority. He was firmly in his wheelhouse. I gave him credit.
    "Crunch
time? And exactly when would that be?"
    He
moved around a little on the sofa, facing me somewhat more squarely. He pursed
his lips as if to give himself a thoughtful pause, a moment to get his wording
straight.
    Then
he said, "Hector Olivera is tied into the ownership of the Florida Marlins
baseball team. They're talking about moving here."
    "I
know, I've heard about that."
    "Well,
what you may not have heard is that Mayor Niekamp is willing to do almost
anything to get a major league sports franchise here. She's tried the NFL, the
NBA, but no one in those leagues will give her the time of day."
    I
remembered the mayor's pitch to the NBA a couple of years ago, while I was
still in LA. It was right after she took office. It made the LA papers, because
she was young, dynamic, and promised great things for Sin City. The NBA told
her to fuck off.
    Colby
continued. "Olivera plans to use his leverage with the Marlins to get on
the mayor's good side. You know the kind of talk, I can bring them here
singlehandedly, I can get it done, blah, blah, blah. Listen, you want a drink.
I'm going to have one."
    "Sure,"
I replied. "Got any good Scotch?"
    He got
up and walked over to the bar. As he looked behind it, he said, "How's
Johnnie Walker Red?"
    I
hoped he didn't see me roll my eyes as I said, "Yeah, that's great."
He probably kept the good shit for his fancy friends.
    He
poured it, along with one for himself. At least he had the good sense to pour
them straight up. He came back to the couch with the drinks in his pale,
delicate hands. He handed me one. As we sipped, he said, "If Blake doesn't
sell his parcels to Olivera, Niekamp will think he's obstructing progress. And
of course, Olivera will be publicly pounding on that theme every hour of every
day that Blake holds out. Eventually, Olivera will force an eminent domain
showdown, which he thinks he can win."
    "You
mean, where the city coerces a deal between them in favor of one or the
other."
    "Right.
And when Olivera gets control of Blake's land, then he's in prime position to
put together financing for the stadium itself. Ryan and I have been quietly
doing some work on that end of it. There's no doubt, with someone of Olivera's
stature, with his credit background, that such financing is doable."
    "How
much are you talking about?"
    "Total
cost to build the stadium: four hundred million dollars."
    "Four
hun — " Holy shit! I had no
idea!
    Colby
continued, "We've got several lines out already, and I think we can get a
commitment of a major stadium construction loan very soon. But he needs Blake's
land to show he's got the site in place."
    My
eyes grew wide, but only for a moment. Then, Colby said, "But there's more.
Once he gets his