QUOTE
Business owner plans to sue BBB
By Jason Miller, The News-Dispatch
Arnold Besse stands in one of several unfinished rooms in his building on Franklin Street. Photo by Elizabeth Hogge
Arnold Besse sat behind the wooden desk at his Prince Galleries on Franklin Street last week, looked at the northern wall of his gallery and shook his head.
“What can I do? I can't do anything. They've got me by the neck,” Besse said, as he lamented the half-renovated office that sits inside the building he owns at 726 Franklin St. “The judge isn't going to collect anything for me. No one wants to talk to me. Even if I don't get anything out of it, I guess if I embarrass them a little it'll be worth it.”
“Them” is the Better Business Bureau, which after signing a lease with Besse, pulled the plug on the project and left Besse, 80, to pay $40,000 to contractors who had remodeled the space to the BBB's specifications.
Besse is trying to fill the buildings he owns on Franklin Street with artists. His dream, he said, is to create an artist colony on Franklin Street because, as he put it, “the biggest thing to spur business downtown is art.”
He thought he was on the road to creating such an artists' colony earlier this year when he leased a portion of one building to the Better Business Bureau for a regional office. The plans fell through, though, when the BBB decided to sweep all local offices into one regional headquarters in Fort Wayne, killing any need for a regional office in Michigan City.
Besse and former BBB regional head Morris Cochran - who envisioned creating a regional office in Michigan City and signed the four-year lease with Besse - said the BBB refused to pay the contractors.
Now the BBB regional office in Merrillville is closed and Cochran lost the job he'd held for 42 years.
“They stuck me with $40,000 worth of bills (for electric, window and carpentry work, among other things),” Besse said. “(Contractors) threatened to put a lien on my building. There wasn't anything they could do to (Cochran) and they're all good businesses. I wanted them to get their money. But it came out of my pocket.”
Besse said he plans to sue for damages, saying he could go after both Cochran and the BBB. He said no one from the BBB “cared to talk” with him about the issue.
Representatives of the BBB didn't return calls to The News-Dispatch.
“They don't care. They won't talk to me,” Besse said. “I don't know what I can do.”
The proposed office was looked upon as a linchpin to downtown development when announced in May. Mayor Chuck Oberlie lauded its anticipated arrival.
Last week he said he's disappointed that the office won't be locating here, and is upset for Besse.
“We were looking to bring in regional service centers like the BBB. It would've been a great move to further economic development down there,” Oberlie said. “But with the problems they had over there, I guess in the long run it'll be good they didn't open here. I just feel bad for Mr. Besse.”
According to a statement from the national office of the BBB, the Better Business Bureau of Northwest Indiana was rife with financial problems, owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes and contractor payments.
After the office closed, LaPorte County came under the umbrella of the South Bend-based BBB office, while Lake and Porter counties are currently without representation.
Besse had hoped rent payments from the BBB - along with current resident WIMS radio - would be enough to allow artists from around the area to use the building for studio space and possibly apartments at no cost to the artists.
Now Besse wonders to whom he can turn.
“Who do you go to about the Better Business Bureau?” he asked. “They are the Better Business Bureau.”
Contact reporter Jason Miller at jmiller@thenewsdispatch.com.
By Jason Miller, The News-Dispatch
Arnold Besse stands in one of several unfinished rooms in his building on Franklin Street. Photo by Elizabeth Hogge
Arnold Besse sat behind the wooden desk at his Prince Galleries on Franklin Street last week, looked at the northern wall of his gallery and shook his head.
“What can I do? I can't do anything. They've got me by the neck,” Besse said, as he lamented the half-renovated office that sits inside the building he owns at 726 Franklin St. “The judge isn't going to collect anything for me. No one wants to talk to me. Even if I don't get anything out of it, I guess if I embarrass them a little it'll be worth it.”
“Them” is the Better Business Bureau, which after signing a lease with Besse, pulled the plug on the project and left Besse, 80, to pay $40,000 to contractors who had remodeled the space to the BBB's specifications.
Besse is trying to fill the buildings he owns on Franklin Street with artists. His dream, he said, is to create an artist colony on Franklin Street because, as he put it, “the biggest thing to spur business downtown is art.”
He thought he was on the road to creating such an artists' colony earlier this year when he leased a portion of one building to the Better Business Bureau for a regional office. The plans fell through, though, when the BBB decided to sweep all local offices into one regional headquarters in Fort Wayne, killing any need for a regional office in Michigan City.
Besse and former BBB regional head Morris Cochran - who envisioned creating a regional office in Michigan City and signed the four-year lease with Besse - said the BBB refused to pay the contractors.
Now the BBB regional office in Merrillville is closed and Cochran lost the job he'd held for 42 years.
“They stuck me with $40,000 worth of bills (for electric, window and carpentry work, among other things),” Besse said. “(Contractors) threatened to put a lien on my building. There wasn't anything they could do to (Cochran) and they're all good businesses. I wanted them to get their money. But it came out of my pocket.”
Besse said he plans to sue for damages, saying he could go after both Cochran and the BBB. He said no one from the BBB “cared to talk” with him about the issue.
Representatives of the BBB didn't return calls to The News-Dispatch.
“They don't care. They won't talk to me,” Besse said. “I don't know what I can do.”
The proposed office was looked upon as a linchpin to downtown development when announced in May. Mayor Chuck Oberlie lauded its anticipated arrival.
Last week he said he's disappointed that the office won't be locating here, and is upset for Besse.
“We were looking to bring in regional service centers like the BBB. It would've been a great move to further economic development down there,” Oberlie said. “But with the problems they had over there, I guess in the long run it'll be good they didn't open here. I just feel bad for Mr. Besse.”
According to a statement from the national office of the BBB, the Better Business Bureau of Northwest Indiana was rife with financial problems, owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes and contractor payments.
After the office closed, LaPorte County came under the umbrella of the South Bend-based BBB office, while Lake and Porter counties are currently without representation.
Besse had hoped rent payments from the BBB - along with current resident WIMS radio - would be enough to allow artists from around the area to use the building for studio space and possibly apartments at no cost to the artists.
Now Besse wonders to whom he can turn.
“Who do you go to about the Better Business Bureau?” he asked. “They are the Better Business Bureau.”
Contact reporter Jason Miller at jmiller@thenewsdispatch.com.