The Blanche
An Observer Interview
Columbia County, FL (Posted
March 1,
2010 • at 09:30 am)
Last November 2009, an original investor in the
Blanche, under the condition of anonymity, had a series
of three conversations with your reporter. What follows
is a result of those three conversations about the
Blanche Hotel.
The Interview
OBSERVER: When
you first invested did you expect to make any kind of
profit?
BLANCHE INVESTOR: We
didn't think that we would make a lot, but we did think
we would get our money back and get some return on our
money. like you would invest your money any other way?
OBSERVER: How
much did you invest?
BLANCHE INVESTOR: About
twenty or twenty five thousand.
OBSERVER: I
heard there was some kind of investigation regarding the
finances of the Blanche.
BLANCHE INVESTOR:
At one time the State Attorney was investigating it and
they came and got all of our records and they never
returned them.
OBSERVER: About how
long after you invested was that?
BLANCHE INVESTOR:
About five or six years. We could never get to the
bottom of the true facts.
OBSERVER: Why is
that?
BLANCHE INVESTOR: It
was very hard to keep a paper trail. It wasn't clear
cut.
OBSERVER: Did you ask
the State Attorney to investigate?
BLANCHE INVESTOR: No.
I do not know who did -- just that the Blanche was being
investigated to be sure there wasn't fraud with the
money that was being received from the investors.
OBSERVER:
At that time the prime investors were Richard Cole and
Daniel Crapps?
BLANCHE INVESTOR: Oh yeah.
OBSERVER: And
Mark Vann and Paul Vann?
BLANCHE INVESTOR: Right.
OBSERVER: How
were you treated as an investor?
BLANCHE INVESTOR: We
were treated terrible as a renter and as a member of the
trust.
OBSERVER: Mr. Smith
claims that they have spent a million dollars on
renovations in that building. Do you believe that?
BLANCHE INVESTOR: No.
And they did not spend every penny they collected,
because they bought property with it.
OBSERVER: Some of the
investor's original money was used to buy other
properties?
BLANCHE INVESTOR:
That's true. It was used to buy other properties. And
that started pretty soon after the investors started and
that's when people had to fall off, because they didn't
realize it was going to continue to cost so much. What
we were sold was that they would convert part of the
Blanche into nice apartments and then part of it would
be offices
OBSERVER: That
was in 1988 that they promised to do that?
BLANCHE INVESTOR:
Right. All of the downstairs would be business. We were
taken up to Tifton Georgia. They were trying to sell
people that were coming onboard. We were told by our
financial advisor at that time – you know the only
people that were going to make money out of this were
Richard and Daniel.
OBSERVER: You were not
the only investor that walked away from it?
BLANCHE INVESTOR: Oh
no. Daniel had always said, "Don't worry – you'll get
your money." It was a bad deal for a lot of people –
everybody -- nobody wants to lose money.
OBSERVER: Mr. Smith
claims to have invested all the money they have taken in
on the building.
BLANCHE INVESTOR: Clearly
that's not the case.
OBSERVER: Did they ask
you for more money as time went on?
BLANCHE INVESTOR: Oh
yes, you were always asked for money.
OBSERVER: Did
you contribute any more after your initial investment?
BLANCHE INVESTOR:
I think maybe our total might have been forty. You
continued to have to contribute money. That's how they
were able to buy other property.
OBSERVER: Do you
blame yourself for any of this?
BLANCHE INVESTOR:
Part of it was possibly our fault, that we didn't stand
up for ourselves, but we didn't really know where to
turn and we didn't have deep pockets to hire a lawyer,
so we just sucked it up and got out and kept going.
OBSERVER: After
all you've been through and all the money you've lost,
do you think the City should get involved with this
thing?
BLANCHE INVESTOR:
I'm all for it. If they can salvage it, they should do
it. But they should know what they are getting into.
Especially if that's TIF money and we only have so much
TIF money to spend on other projects downtown. I think
they just need to be smart about it. It would be
terrible for a whole city block to go down.
OBSERVER:
Anything else?
BLANCHE INVESTOR: The
saddest thing of all is it could have been done. All the
renovations could have been done at the beginning, had
the momentum been picked up, as it was told it would
have been done. It could have been done then – at the
beginning.