On Wednesday, Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross took Ellman up on his offer to have city officials meet with Ellman's banks and lenders. The intensely private Ellman had repeatedly refused to release sensitive financial data about his privately held company, The Ellman Cos., but agreed to allow his financial backers to talk openly with city officials about the company's fiscal status.
With a $100-million investment of public money on the line, the city wants to ensure that Ellman has the financial muscle to complete not only the $87-million purchase of the professional hockey team, the Phoenix Coyotes, but also to develop the rest of the massive project.
"The time for letters is over," Manross wrote in the short note to Ellman. "We need to sit in a room and find out each other's bottom line. I was elected to get this project done."Earlier this week, Ellman said he was considering moving the arena to another location and scrapping plans to build at the site of the former Los Arcos Mall, at the southeast corner of McDowell and Scottsdale roads. A site on the Indian reservation to the east of Scottsdale was considered, and a West Valley developer, John F. Long, has offered land in the far West Valley.Ellman and city officials are expected to meet within the next few days. Ellman self-imposed a deadline of Oct. 15 to close on purchase of the team.
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