CHICAGO As fans stand vigil outside Michael Jackson's boyhood home in Gary, Ind., on Saturday to mark the two-year anniversary of the pop superstar's death, a group led by the late singer's father holds out hope they will deliver on promises for a $300 million tourist mecca in the battered steel town.
Last year Joe Jackson and Gary Mayor Rudy Clay announced plans for the Jackson Family Center on 300 acres of city-owned land south of Interstate Highway 80-94. The plans included moving the 1,000-square-foot Jackson house a few blocks away to become part of a complex with a museum, performing arts center and, perhaps, a casino.
"The plans are moving along," said Orland Park, Ill., businessman Odie Anderson, who said he is the local point man for Joe Jackson's group. "We are in the process of hiring contractors."
The city still is hopeful Joe Jackson's development group will be able to deliver on the glamorous proposal, which developers promised will bring more than 700,000 visitors and $150 million a year to a city that began a long, steep decline about the same time the Jackson 5 hit the charts with "I'll Be There" in 1969.
But the city also set out numerous hurdles for Jackson's group, not least of which was securing financing for the multimillion-dollar project and the rights to Michael Jackson's likeness - which is closely guarded by the late performer's estate.
Michael's mother, Katherine Jackson, joined Joe Jackson as an officer in The Jackson Family Foundation, a not-for-profit incorporated in Joe's home state of Nevada in 2010 to lead the Gary project. Although Katherine Jackson draws an allowance from her son's estate and will inherit half of it, Joe Jackson, who was estranged from Michael for years, received nothing in his son's will.
Asked if the estate had any involvement in a proposed Gary museum, Howard Weitzman, the estate's attorney, replied via email, "No!!"
Tax records for a nonprofit that merged with the Jackson Family Foundation in December list no assets or income. In Nevada corporation documents, a for-profit development and marketing corporation created by Joe Jackson's group lists capital of $75,000.
The Jackson Family Foundation was required to provide proof it had attained federal tax-exempt status and complete a feasibility study for the project by January. It has done neither, Gary corporation counsel Susan Severtson said.
Joe Jackson announced he had hired San Jose, Calif.-based consulting firm AuCopia Global to produce the study.
A woman who answered the phone at the firm's office said, "That deal is dead as a doornail," and hung up. The California secretary of state has suspended the company's business license because it has not filed tax forms for a number of years and owes the state $530.34, a state spokesman said.
Further clouding the future is the fact the project's biggest booster, Clay, did not run for re-election. His term ends in January.
Joe Jackson's attorney, Brian Oxman, acknowledges the project has encountered "obstacles."
"It just has not happened," said Oxman. "I know Joe has always wanted to do something in Gary. That's where his life was. That's where his family was born. Who knows what can be done?"
Last year Joe Jackson and Gary Mayor Rudy Clay announced plans for the Jackson Family Center on 300 acres of city-owned land south of Interstate Highway 80-94. The plans included moving the 1,000-square-foot Jackson house a few blocks away to become part of a complex with a museum, performing arts center and, perhaps, a casino.
"The plans are moving along," said Orland Park, Ill., businessman Odie Anderson, who said he is the local point man for Joe Jackson's group. "We are in the process of hiring contractors."
The city still is hopeful Joe Jackson's development group will be able to deliver on the glamorous proposal, which developers promised will bring more than 700,000 visitors and $150 million a year to a city that began a long, steep decline about the same time the Jackson 5 hit the charts with "I'll Be There" in 1969.
But the city also set out numerous hurdles for Jackson's group, not least of which was securing financing for the multimillion-dollar project and the rights to Michael Jackson's likeness - which is closely guarded by the late performer's estate.
Michael's mother, Katherine Jackson, joined Joe Jackson as an officer in The Jackson Family Foundation, a not-for-profit incorporated in Joe's home state of Nevada in 2010 to lead the Gary project. Although Katherine Jackson draws an allowance from her son's estate and will inherit half of it, Joe Jackson, who was estranged from Michael for years, received nothing in his son's will.
Tax records for a nonprofit that merged with the Jackson Family Foundation in December list no assets or income. In Nevada corporation documents, a for-profit development and marketing corporation created by Joe Jackson's group lists capital of $75,000.
The Jackson Family Foundation was required to provide proof it had attained federal tax-exempt status and complete a feasibility study for the project by January. It has done neither, Gary corporation counsel Susan Severtson said.
Joe Jackson announced he had hired San Jose, Calif.-based consulting firm AuCopia Global to produce the study.
A woman who answered the phone at the firm's office said, "That deal is dead as a doornail," and hung up. The California secretary of state has suspended the company's business license because it has not filed tax forms for a number of years and owes the state $530.34, a state spokesman said.
Further clouding the future is the fact the project's biggest booster, Clay, did not run for re-election. His term ends in January.
Joe Jackson's attorney, Brian Oxman, acknowledges the project has encountered "obstacles."
"It just has not happened," said Oxman. "I know Joe has always wanted to do something in Gary. That's where his life was. That's where his family was born. Who knows what can be done?"
