Carlson Gardner in the news again

Carlson Gardner made the news again on Sunday. This time in the St. Joseph News-Press.

In Downtown developers cash in, City Government reporter, Joe Blumberg, exposes among other things:

On two apartment developments, the San Regis and the Pioneer Building, two different developers may profit up to 17 percent on the projects before the apartments are even rented. One of those developers is Carlson Gardner of Springfield, the other is Jeffrey E. Smith, of Columbia.

The upfront profit is made possible by the selling of tax credits awarded to the developers for the projects.

Developers compete for the award of tax credits each fall.

Mr. Blumberg also reported that both Carlson Gardner and Smith own companies involved in every phase of a project. Each of those companies, in turn, bill the respective developer at every phase.

In the fall of 2002 one of Mr. Smith's projects was denied in favor of a Carlson Gardner project. St. Joe endorsed Carlson Gardner on projects three times between 2002 and 2005.

The Mayor, David Jones, was up for re-election in 2005. That year seven different Carlson Gardner companies contributed the maximum legal amount to his campaign. Jones lost the election that year.

Read the original article for more details.