On the hot seat with Anne Cresswell

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Planet Jackson Hole: Knowing what many people think of you – that you are not always forthright and communicative with your motives – how could you come before the council with so many last minute changes?

Anne Cresswell: I think some people are conspiracy theorists. There are some people who will always assume malintent or nefarious intent. And there are people who don’t take the time to ask the questions.

The property that we would ultimately own at Daisy Bush is 36-percent larger [than Redmond-Hansen]. The entire property is entitled and designed and shovel-ready.
There are 180 people in the construction industry here that have lost their jobs because of the economy’s effect on the industry. So here is a great opportunity for the Housing Trust. Ultimately, I think this is the right course of action; I just think it ended up being more complicated than everybody thought it was going to be.

PJH: What about not disclosing that you had just sold a property the Town helped finance?

AC: The hospital board voted [March 26] to sell Redmond-Hansen. The contract went hard [March 30]. We closed Redmond-Hansen on April 2 and we were at the meeting on the April. This is a classic demonstration of real estate acquisitions in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It’s fast, it’s furious, and it’s confidential. I don’t want to blow it with my buyer. I want to get the best possible price.

Prugh, Jr. didn’t even know that we were selling Redmond-Hansen. He had no idea. He didn’t know the hospital was a partner.  A lot of what we do has to be kept confidential and if people have a problem with that, well, that’s why we need to have that ability as a private nonprofit organization.

PJH: Is the Trust in the business of building houses or land speculating?

AC: We made a really strategic and smart business decision. We sold a piece of property and we traded up for a 36-percent increase in size and better location. It was a great opportunity and only possible because of this market.

You’ve seen the scrutiny we’ve been under since we engaged in Teton Meadows. If anybody thinks for a second that we set out with a nefarious plot and thought we were going to get away with something; there’s no way. 

PJH: You have a board full of heavy hitters. Have you ever been pressured to, say, have First Interstate Bank (Jim Moses, bank and Trust board president) carry your loans or Hawtin-Jorgensen Architects (Arne Jorgensen, emeritus board member) do your design?

AC: Absolutely not. We have a crystal clear conflict of interest policy for our organization that is always front-and-center. The reason we have the board makeup we do is because those board members have tremendous value to add to our organization. We’ve got Nancy Hughes, who owns a title and escrow company.

We’ve got realtors, bankers, financial hedge fund managers and architects because this is the work of the organization. It’s not going to help me if I’ve got a gardener and a cook sitting on my board of directors when I’m trying to build the best possible houses I can. PJH
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On the hot seat with Anne Cresswell | Planet JH News Article: Development

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