Democratic Mayor Mike Huether may just have blown development deal 

Democratic Mayor Mike Huether may just have blown a major Sioux Falls development deal because he just can’t help trying to draw attention to himself. As noted in today’s Argus:

Last week’s unveiling of a downtown development plan left many with the impression that iconic establishment Skelly’s Pub and Grill has been sold and will be demolished as part of the $40 million project.

That’s news to Houston Haugo, the 73-year-old owner of the Phillips Avenue property, who criticized Mayor Mike Huether and other city officials for announcing details of a public-private partnership that is still under negotiation.

“There’s no deal,” Haugo said Wednesday from his home in Arizona. “No money has been exchanged and there’s no signed agreement. This was a case of the mayor and (development director) Darrin Smith overdriving their mouths.”

And..

One potential hurdle, however, is the higher price that property owners might seek if they see their buildings as crucial to the city’s development plan. That is why some are scratching their heads about what they perceive to be a premature and ill-advised announcement.

“When you’re dealing with business negotiations, you just don’t do stuff like that,” said Haugo, a former Valley Bank chairman and Lincoln County commissioner who has owned Skelly’s since 2003. “With this stupid move, I could ask for more money. But I’ve known (Sweet) a long time and we came up with a price.”

Read it all here.

One thing my mother taught me about business was that “once the deal is made, don’t talk the other guy out of it.”. In other words, if you have a agreement in principle, don’t say something stupid and blow the deal before it’s set in stone.

Advice that Huether would be wise to heed.

8 thoughts on “Democratic Mayor Mike Huether may just have blown development deal ”

  1. Please be the Democrat gubernatorial candidate, Mike. Please. Please. I want to see if he can draw 10% west of the river. That should supplement his 25% east of the river REALLY well.

  2. Sounds like he is taking a page from another Democrat-Obama-and failing to realize when he should keep his mouth shut (recall Obama and the Georgetown professor’s trouble with the police).

  3. Did I read that right? In one sentence, Haugo states that there is not deal, but later on he states that he and Sweet have set upon a price. Deal? I am reminded of a saying. “Samson killed a thousand men with the jaw bone of an ass. That many sales are killed every day with the same weapon.”

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