Posted on 11/21/2003 4:51:18 AM PST by Arrowhead1952
Landowner alleges developer conspired with mayor and councilman to undermine proposed store
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, November 20, 2003
An Arizona partnership now stuck with land once intended to house a Wal-Mart store filed suit Thursday against the City of Austin and Stratus Properties, accusing both of working behind the scenes to sabotage the deal.
In part, S.R. Ridge's suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Austin, alleges that Mayor Will Wynn threatened to delay Wal-Mart's other pending zoning cases unless the company pulled out of an agreement to open a store at Slaughter Lane and MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1).
The suit also accuses Council Member Daryl Slusher of colluding with Stratus to organize environmental and neighborhood opposition to the project. Stratus plans to build an H-E-B grocery store on nearby property limited by more stringent development rules than the S.R. Ridge site.
Many of the allegations in the lawsuit — including that Stratus hired an environmental consultant to launch an anti-Wal-Mart campaign and kept Slusher informed of its progress — stem from e-mails previously released by the city.
However, this much is new: One day after Wal-Mart announced it was abandoning its plans, Stratus CEO Beau Armstrong sent a letter to a commercial brokerage firm seeking to buy the 43 acres where the Wal-Mart would have been located.
Brian Cassidy, the Austin lawyer representing S.R. Ridge, writes in the suit that Armstrong "audaciously sought to capitalize on the City's actions, orchestrated in large part by his own company, by moving to acquire the property."
In a copy of that Oct. 2 correspondence, Armstrong says he learned about the deal falling apart in the morning paper.
"Assuming the paper is accurate, and the project is not going forward, Stratus would be very interested in acquiring the property," he writes. ". . . Our existing property may enable us to make concessions that might satisfy the City and surrounding neighborhood groups and still make economic sense."
The thrust of the lawsuit is that by working to oppose S.R. Ridge's contract with Endeavor Real Estate Group and Wal-Mart, city officials knowingly violated a 1996 agreement that allowed for dense development on the site, causing $8 million in damages.
As for Stratus, the suit alleges Armstrong knew about the settlement, which gave Ridge's land its value, and conspired with city officials in an attempt to "protect the competitive value" of its own property nearby.
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