February 20, 2014

 

Paul Cobb, Publisher

The Oakland Post

405 14th Street, Suite 1215

Oakland, CA 94612

 

 

Re: The Oakland Post article titled “Tagami Failed to Make Payments on Rotunda Partners Development Loan” (Weekly Edition Feb. 12-18, 2014).

 

 

 

Dear Mr. Cobb:

 

In the article referenced above, writer Ashley Chambers repeats many inaccurate assertions, which could have easily been remedied by even the most cursory fact checking.

 

The article’s headline claims that Rotunda Partners has not made payments on the loan from the City of Oakland.  Wrong — Rotunda Partners has made each payment on time.

 

The article repeated a councilmember’s allegation that the company is currently technically in default.  Wrong – Rotunda Partners has made each payment on time and of course, is NOT in default.

 

The article references “some level of penalty for failure to perform.”  Again, this makes no sense since Rotunda Partners has made all payments on time.

 

The article asserts that the Rotunda documents have not been made public.  Wrong – All Rotunda documents are public and available.

 

The article suggests that Rotunda Partners is Phil Tagami’s company.  Mostly Wrong – Mr. Tagami is one of more than a dozen investor/partners.

 

The article prints Mr. Gene Hazzard’s assertion that “[the loan]is fraud, this is a gift of public land.” The loan was neither fraud nor a gift of public land.  Rotunda Partners purchased the property in partnership with the City of Oakland. 

 

The City of Oakland was both a lender and remains an equity partner.  If the property were sold at today’s appraised value, the City of Oakland would have its loan paid in full, and in addition, earn over $5,000,000 as its share of equity.  Thus, the City’s loan/equity partnership with Rotunda Partners is actually one of the best real estate deals the City has ever made.

 

In the future, please make an effort to check facts before published inaccurate articles about Mr. Tagami and Rotunda Partners. 

 

And regarding our payments, please check with Oakland’s Community and Economic Development Agency before claiming inaccurately that Rotunda Partners has failed to make timely payments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Moss

Managing Member, Rotunda Partners II, LLC