New details emerged Friday about a multimillion-dollar city-county proposal designed, in part, to keep a promising pharmaceutical company from leaving Lawrence.

Officials who put together the deal confirmed that the leader of CritiTech — the promising biotech company — also is a minority owner in the West Lawrence laboratory building that city and county commissioners are being asked to buy with public tax funds for $2.3 million.

Longtime Lawrence investor Sam Campbell is the president and chairman of CritiTech. Campbell also owns a 25 percent stake in the New Oread Group, the partnership that currently owns the laboratory building at 4950 Research Parkway, which the city and county are proposing to buy.

‘Front and center’

That information was not presented when the proposal was publicly unveiled on Thursday. Instead, during a briefing with the Journal-World, the New Oread Group was described as being “predominantly made up of Topeka investors.” That is true. The other 75 percent of the ownership group is made up of Topeka residents and another Topeka-based partnership. Campbell was part of the briefing and confirmed CritiTech leases space in the building, but did not mention that he also was an owner of the building.

“That wasn’t intentional,” Campbell said Friday. “That fact has been front and center from the beginning. We are transparent and have nothing to hide.”

City and county officials who have been working on the deal said they were aware that Campbell was part of the building’s ownership group. Upon further reflection, County Administrator Craig Weinaug said that fact should have been presented in the public information, which was put together for upcoming meetings that the city and county will conduct on the proposal next week.

“I think that fact needs to be publicly disclosed, and it really never was intended to not be part of the discussion,” Weinaug said. “But I don’t think any of that changes how good we think the deal is for the community.”

After being questioned by the Journal-World, City Manager David Corliss’ office added a memo to the electronic agenda packet for Tuesday’s City Commission meeting that details the ownership information of the building. In addition to Campbell, other owners of the New Oread Group are: James Parrish, Topeka, 25 percent; Kathleen Urbom, Topeka, 12.5 percent; and J.F.M. Limited Partnership I, 37.5 percent. J.F.M. is an interest held by the McGivern family of Topeka.

City-county proposal

The city and county are proposing to buy the laboratory building, formerly part of the Oread Labs company, and to spend about $600,000 to renovate the building’s heating, cooling and ventilation system. Without the renovations, city and county leaders have said the vacant space in the 17,500-square-foot building can’t efficiently be rented.

The question of Campbell’s ownership was raised by commenters on LJWorld.com, who referenced a 2002 Journal-World article that identified Campbell as part of a group that bought the former Oread Labs building out of a bankruptcy auction.

But any concerns that Campbell is receiving a back-door incentive to keep CritiTech — which has been lured by Wichita and others — in Lawrence is unfounded, Dever said.

“I’ve evaluated the deal based on face value, and it is a good deal for the community,” Dever said. “I just don’t think any of us consider that (Campbell’s ownership) to be a major issue in the formula.”

The 2002 Journal-World article also said the New Oread Group paid $900,000 for the building as part of the bankruptcy auction. The city and county are proposing to pay $2.3 million for the building.

Campbell said the New Oread Group has put large amounts of money into the building to make it useable as a laboratory.

“We’ve put in well in excess of what we’re seeking to sell it for,” Campbell said. “We will take a significant loss on the building. We won’t walk away with one farthing on the building.”

The building currently is appraised by the Douglas County Appraiser’s office for $1.48 million. But Dever said that appraisal was based on the property serving as a rental property that currently was largely vacant. He said the proposed $2.3 million purchase price is a good one for the community because it is far less than what it would cost the city and county to construct a similar building.

“The estimates I have is that it probably would cost $5 million to build that building today,” Dever said.

City commissioners are scheduled to discuss the proposal at their 6:35 p.m. meeting on Tuesday. County Commissioners are scheduled to discuss the project at their 6:30 p.m. meeting on Wednesday.