About 20 acres of Corporation of Hamilton property has been leased to Michael MacLean’s Allied Development Partners for 262 years. But Government is saying little about the next steps on the mammoth project.The leasehold consists primarily of waterfront property between Barr’s Bay and the Department of Marine and Ports offices on Front Street, but also includes the City Hall car park.In return, the Corporation is due a share of the revenue derived from the developments and is guaranteed at least as much income as they are currently receiving from the properties until such time as the project begins to generate revenue.“They are not giving up anything. They stand to benefit,” Mr MacLean told The Royal Gazette.ADP has also been requested by the Corporation to enhance and upgrade the entire length of Court Street which would become the main artery connecting Front Street to North Hamilton.The terms of the lease have been kept out of the public domain for months. Mr MacLean, who had previously declined to comment on the project, said he was revealing the details as he has nothing to hide.The developer said he had had no objection to handing over the lease to the Government but respected the wishes of City Hall bosses who had balked at handing it over, and had not thought it appropriate to reveal any details before Government had sight of it.City Hall announced ADP as the lead developer for the Hamilton Waterfront redevelopment project in January. The development angered Government, which had asked City Hall to hold off on the announcement as it had not conducted its due diligence on the project.It later emerged that the City had leased the waterfront property to the developers — without the knowledge of the current or former administration.City Hall then delayed handing over the full package of project documents to the Government for another five months.And it has not responded to queries about the project since. Meanwhile, Ombudsman Arlene Brock has been conducting an own motion systemic investigation into City Hall operations — motivated, she said, by concerns about governance, lack of transparency and lack of public consultation particularly around the waterfront project.Mr MacLean said he had urged the Corporation of Hamilton to be more forthcoming with information about the project to no avail. But he defended the Corporation’s handling of the process, saying that Government had received all project documents, shortly after the January announcement, except the lease and did not provide an adequate reason for demanding it.“From the very get go, it was a stand off,” he said.Mr MacLean, keen to get the project underway, took legal advice and told the Corporation he was happy for Government to have the lease.City Hall, he reported, had been divided on the matter with some members saying the lease should be handed over and others adamant that the Government’s demands were unwarranted and unprecedented.City Hall, he said, had full authority under the law to lease the property, and had engaged in an RFP process overseen by an independent third party.Mr MacLean said he found it “odd” that the lease for the waterfront property had generated so much “noise” while other leases for City property, such as the Par-la-Ville lease for a hotel complex and the cargo dock facilities operated by Stevedoring Services, had not.“There was no RFP process. This Council put in place an RFP process (for the waterfront project) and selected someone. They have done more than was done previously.”He added: “ It's a project of national importance, I get that. But what do they think? That the Corporation would give me a lease for 262 years and there would be no consultation to develop the waterfront?”Now Mr MacLean is questioning Government’s process.“Now that they have got it, what are they doing?” he asked, adding that Government had not asked a single question of him or the Corporation since receiving the documents.“They haven’t raised one question to myself or the Corporation regarding the process,” Mr MacLean said. “If you are going to do due diligence on a project, you look at the whole picture. You don’t look at things in isolation. So if all you are interested in is the lease, you have not done the process any justice.”Mr MacLean’s lease is conditional upon him meeting certain milestones, but with the financiers now taking a wait-and-see approach, he has given notice that the clock has stopped until Government completes its due diligence.We asked Government when it expected to complete its due diligence. A Government spokesperson said the question was “for the Corporation to answer.” No clarification was received by presstime.Former Premier Sir John Swan is the project’s most high profile critic. He has condemned City Hall for not consulting the public before issuing the RFP which led to ADP’s selection, and is now shopping around an alternative concept for the waterfront.But Mr MacLean said: “Other people may not like the process, but they (City Hall) have done nothing wrong. No action can be taken against me or the Corporation over the process.”