15:35 18.07.2006 | All news from "Arkansas"
Condo Developers Sue City After It Revokes Construction Permit
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Monday in District Judge Leon Holmes' courtroom.
In a statement released late Friday, Brad Canada, the lead manager of Arkansas Riverview Development LLC, which is building the condos, said he was "blindsided" by the city and has no choice but to the file suit in U.S District Court's Eastern District of Arkansas seeking an injunction and a reinstatement of the permit.
"We have been working toward a resolution with the city of Little Rock and the Doubletree Hotel over the past few weeks, and we were surprised and disappointed to receive the purported revocation of the building permit for the Residences at Building 5," Canada said.
The city revoked the building permit for the project in a letter dated July 12. At issue is air rights above Garland Street, which runs behind old Arkansas Bar Foundation building and the DoubleTree Hotel. The City believes it holds the air rights as owners of the property in the area, including what it leases to the DoubleTree Hotel. According to his lawsuit, Canada contends that he holds the air rights, which he says he received from the Arkansas Bar Foundation when he purchased the building in 2004.
In a letter to CBM Construction, which is building the condos for Canada's development company, City Manager Bruce Moore said "there is no document that we can find which authorized CBM to undertake construction on the [city-owned] northern portion, which is the space above Garland Street, on behalf of the City."
Moore said the city wishes "to see a speedy and successful resolution" to the matter, but added that until the Garland Street issue is resolved, it will not issue a building permit unless the city board grants approval to do so.
In his statement, Canada said the city has had ample time to work with him on the issue.
"The City and DoubleTree Hotel have known about this project since the middle of 2005. They have watched the steel go up and have watched us as we made a substantial investment in the renovation of this building," Canada said. "Now that we are within days of completing the exterior, the City has blindsided us."
Canada said he didn't understand how stopping the project was in the best interest of the city or the public, and that a work stoppage at this point "will cause incalculable harm in the form of weather damage to existing work, increased material and labor costs, extended financing costs and loss of business opportunity Пр
Developers announced the project, one of several condominium developments underway downtown, in September. The project is adding space for 12 condos to the slender, red-brick building at 400 W. Markham St. between the DoubleTree and the Old State House Museum. The condos are set to sell from $395,000 for the smallest 1,350-SF space to $2.2 million for the sprawling, 6,264-SF space on the 11th floor. Spaces in between range from 1,486 SF to 1,962 SF.
When complete, the building would boast 12 floors of space and a small, 13th-floor study. Canada has planned to live on the 12th and 13th floors.
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