Expo Board Gives Green Light To BottleRock 2014, GSF

Napa Valley Exposition Board unanimously approved a tentative contract Wednesday with GSF Partners to operate BottleRock 2014, likely scheduled for June 20, 21 and 22.

"We were very happy to have the support that we did tonight," GSF principal David Graham said after the 9-0 vote by the Expo Board Wednesday night. "We still have a lot of work to do before this is a go."

The contract is conditional on GSF acquiring an asset purchase agreement from BR Festivals, which ran the 2013 inaugural BottleRock. Another condition is that GSF releases from escrow the 2013 festival's $310,983 outstanding debt to the Expo for rental fees from the 2013 event.

The rental fee for the 2014 event will be $800,000, of which 30 percent must be paid up front as a deposit, said Expo Board member Belia Bennett, who, with board member Eric Lehman and CEO Joe Anderson, met with GSF principals extensively over the past month since the partners made their first pitch in November.

Graham said the next task was "to spend some focused time with the city (of Napa)," he added. Napa City Manager Mike Parness said earlier in the evenng that the city "was a little nervous about the timing" of the decision whether to go forward with the 2014 festival.

"We need a completed application 90 days before," the city can consider issuing  a permit, Parness said. "That means the decision needs to be made in the next 30 days."

Graham, who is partnering with local businessmen Joe Fischer and Jason Scoggins in the venture, made his comments after a three-hour public meeting before about 200 people.

Most of the speakers during the public comment portion of the meeting praised the integrity, financial acumen and business savvy of the GSF partners, who have promised to repay multiple creditors a substantial amount of the $8.5 million they are owed from the 2013 festival.

"It will be between 60 percent and 100 percent (of the amount owed)," Graham said, adding that creditirs would likely only receive 20 percent of the amount they were owed if BR Festivals declared bankruptcy and there were no other actions taken. 

Graham  said the partners, who are pledging more than $6 million in creditor repayment, are forming a privately held limited liability corporation that will not only operate the festival, but will also be open to outside investor funding by selling shares.

"This (GSF) option will give creditors the best chance of getting their money back,"  Lehman said.

Graham said the partners would also pay back the more than $100,000 the city is owed from the 2013 event.

Questioned about the loud rock music noise complaints from the neighborhood, both Graham and the Expo Board said they had answers. Graham said one of the members of the GSF Partners firm will be tasked with working with the neighborhood issues, while the Expo Board members said they have recruited a noise measurement expert to gauge and manage decibel levels at the festival.

Some audience members were unconvinced.

"They're about to destroy three neighborhoods, environmentally and economically," said Lance Burris. He walked out later, after other members of the public stood up to support the new BottleRock proposal.

Graham said he expected GSF Partners would acquire the assets of BR Festivals before the next Expo Board meeting Jan. 21.