A Sweet Deal… For Himself
As reported in this week’s feature story, Kansas City, Missouri, Aviation Department officials think they landed a good deal for Kansas City when they leased 300 acres of city property to FastTrack Group LLC, owners of the KCI Motorsports Park planned for the site.
Here’s who landed two good deals: Rick Watkins, who owns a real estate firm called Watkins and Company, Inc. (Rick is no relation to Warren Watkins, the funeral-home director who is one of the main subjects of this week’s story). Rick Watkins is also a principal owner in FastTrack Group LLC. For putting together the land deal to build a racetrack that he’ll partly own, Watkins and Co. will be paid a $748,084 real estate commission from the city.
According to Mark VanLoh, the director of the Aviation Department, it doesn’t matter whether the real estate broker is also a principal in the project he brings to the table. The Aviation Department started paying real estate commissions to brokers who bring them projects for airport land two years ago, in an effort to more aggressively attract development.
“We pay [commissions] to anybody. If you bring us a deal, we pay a commission, no questions asked,” VanLoh told The Pitch last May.
Rick Watkins hasn’t returned repeated phone calls requesting a comment. If he did, we’d congratulate him for his lucrative navigational skills. – Nadia Pflaum
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