Feb. 16–The real estate developer behind two boutique hotels in Memphis has been accused of bribing the mayor of Palm Springs, California.
The Riverside County District Attorney's Office alleged in a criminal complaint filed Thursday that developer John Wessman of Palm Springs schemed to pay the former Palm Springs mayor $375,000 when he was in office.
Wessman, one of the largest real estate developers in Palm Springs, is in the process of converting into boutique hotels a former bank building in Downtown Memphis on Madison Avenue and the former College of Art property on S. Main.
It was not clear Thursday whether those projects would continue.
In Palm Springs, the Desert Sun newspaper reported Thursday that prosecutors allege Wessman and businessman Richard Meany schemed from 2012 through 2014 with then-mayor Steve Pougnet.
http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/local/palm-springs/2017/02/16/palm-springs-corruption-mayor-bribes/96415148/
"For two years while serving as mayor of Palm Springs," the newspaper wrote, "Steve Pougnet accepted bribes from local real estate developers in exchange for favorable decisions from behind the City Council dais, prosecutors alleged in a criminal complaint listing 21 felony charges against him."
Wessman Holdings LLC has three projects pending in Memphis and won approval this week for public incentives for two of them.
In its application for one of the incentives, the company asserted "Wessman Development is not party to a pending lawsuit nor been charged with a felony."
The company, represented by Seattle architect Chris Pardo, was approved Tuesday for a 15-year tax abatement on a proposed boutique hotel on South Main.
On Wednesday it won an $80,000 grant for improvements of a small office building at 119 Madison.
It has also been working on another hotel project at 158-164 Madison, including the former Leader Federal Savings & Loan building.
Additionally, Wessman Holdings bought a home in the upscale Hein Park neighborhood of Midtown Memphis, where Pardo has been living for two weeks out of each month while he works on the Memphis projects.
Incentives for Wessman projects in Memphis were approved this week by boards affiliated with the Downtown Memphis Commission, a redevelopment agency.
The Center City Revenue Finance Corp. on Tuesday approved a partial tax freeze on a $14.2 million project to convert 477 South Main and 484 South Front into a 62-room boutique hotel with two restaurants and 90 parking spaces.
The measure would save the developer an estimated $1.8 million over 15 years in city and county taxes, a savings that the commission dubs hypothetical, because owners say the project wouldn't happen without the incentive.
On Wednesday, the Center City Development Corp. approved an $80,000 exterior improvement grant for a historic, four-story office building at 119 Madison, in the block between Main and Second. The application was made under a program that provides grants for up to half the cost of exterior fa?ade improvements.
Pardo told the board plans for the building include a "speakeasy style" bar in the basement, a coffee shop named Federal Coffee on street level and three 650-square foot apartments on upper floors.
According to the Desert Sun, Wessman and Meany are expected to surrender to the court in the next few days. Each face a potential 12 years in state prison.
