PORTLAND, Ore. – A financial consultant here is working on deals with two tribes that could bring more than $50 million in financing toward casino and hotel development.
And a second consultant has an idea that she thinks would make it easier to develop assisted living facilities for elderly American Indians.
Consultant Scott Clements, principal in Clements Partners LLC, said he’s working with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in Oregon, and the Redding Rancheria in California.
Sharon Nielson, principal of the Nielson Group, also here, says a waiver granted by the states of Oregon and Washington allows federal Medicaid money to pick up health and social services costs at assisted living facilities, allowing low-income elders to afford the expensive assisted living facilities. She thinks this is an idea that could travel into Indian country, and she thinks in general it would be a good thing for tribes to more closely coordinate their health and social services operations with their housing efforts.
Nielson said a non-Indian ALF project in Portland was able to include seniors with as little as 30 percent of area median income.
Clements is advising the Redding tribe on its planned 105-room hotel, with $6 million financing to be provided by Redding Bank of Commerce and Canyon National Bank in Palm Springs, Calif.
The BIA would provide a 90-percent loan guarantee, Clements said, and is still considering the deal.
The Redding tribe also is planning a $25 million expansion of its gaming facility and Clements is trying to arrange financing through an investment bank. The deal will probably be set up as a loan, or note, with the investment banker offering the package to its customers.
In Oregon, the Warm Springs tribe is considering moving its gaming facility from a somewhat remote area to a more populated area at the intersection of routes 97 and 26.
In March, the tribe voted to make gaming permanent on the reservation, and set a May vote on the site move, he said.
If approved, Clements expects financing will be in the area of $25 million. He expects five to seven bids on the business from banks or investment bankers, and expects it will be structured as a loan.
Clements said he h assisted 15 to 20 tribes in the Northwest, California and Oklahoma with financing since he started his consulting business in 1979. He has arranged about a half dozen public tribal bond financings, with the largest being about $5 million, and has conducted 35 to 40 private placements of debt.
He also evaluates business opportunities for tribes and consults on investments. He has evaluated possible ventures as diverse as an oil company, a dotcom startup, a ceramics venture, and golf courses.
The former banker worked for Hartford National Bank, the Atlantic Bank System, and First Interstate before branching out on his own.
Nielson, formerly of Housing Partners Inc., was developer for an 88-unit complex for the Umatilla Tribe east of Pendleton, Ore. That mixed-use development, called Mission Creek, won a Governor’s Livability Award.
She also consulted with the Ronde Tribe of Oregon on a 38-unit seniors complex it is building. And she has done feasibility work for the Spokane Tribe in Washington, as well as site visits for tribes in Nebraska, South Dakota and New Mexico.
