|
|
|
Cordish on the Attack
In letter to Yale, developer looses both
barrels against city, chamber
|
Business New Haven
3/9/1998
By: Michael C. Bingham
|
In a scathing letter to Yale University President Richard C. Levin, Baltimore developer David S. Cordish has accused the city of New Haven and the Foundation of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce of deliberately thwarting his option to buy Chapel Square Mall and redevelop it as a successful entertainment and retail complex.
The stated purpose of the personal letter, obtained by BNH, is to explain to Levin why Cordish is “presently not in a position to close our option for Chapel Square Mall and 900 Chapel Office Building, despite our desire to do so.”
The city and chamber, he writes, “have already begun to disseminate misinformation on the subject and we wanted Yale to know the facts.”
Last month Cordish, the original developer and partner in the renovation of the former Park Plaza Hotel, filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the city and the chamber foundation. In it he alleges that his exclusive option agreement to purchase the mall and office tower had been violated.
Specifically, Cordish maintains that the properties were to be sold to him, free and clear, for $700,000, according to the option agreement. “The city group is now taking the position that the purchase [price] is whatever they want to make it,” Cordish writes. Over our objection, [the city and chamber have] placed a $1,400,000 mortgage on the property and...amassed a debt of approximately $1,000,000 of unpaid real estate taxes.”
Cordish maintains that the city's “failure to honor their obligations leaves us no alternative but court sanction.” He adds that, “In 35 years, we have never been involved in any way in litigation of this type with a city.”
Nevertheless, Cordish is no stranger to litigation. According to the February 6 Baltimore Business Journal, Cordish is embroiled in a legal tiff with real estate brokers over the pending sale of a Long Island (N.Y.) shopping center. The same publication on February 28 reported that Cordish was suing a California restaurant chain, the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., over the latter's claim that it had a binding agreement to lease space in Cordish's Inner Harbor development in Baltimore.
Also, in September 1992, the Chicago Tribune reported that a Cordish affiliate was indeed suing a municipality - Park Forest, Ill. - for alleged failure to pay a $100,000 concession to keep a retailer from leaving a shopping center owned by the Cordish company.
In his letter to Levin, Cordish expresses disappointment in the city's actions, adding that “The most amazing aspect of the above is that the [city] administration wouldn't be overjoyed to have the Cordish Co./Omni Hotel team revitalize Chapel Square Mall and the virtually empty office building.”
In reference to Mayor John DeStefano Jr.'s hope to site a million-square-foot retail mall at Long Wharf, Cordish adds, “Possibly, they fear we are competition for Long Wharf?”
Matthew Nemerson, president of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce and head of the foundation that owns Chapel Square Mall, declines comment on the Cordish letter.
“The real loser,” Cordish concludes, “is the New Haven community. We had a wonderful eight-screen ultra-moderrn movie complex, primarily [screening] independent art films, among other entertainment tenants committed.
“All that is lost while we are forced to administer a civics lesson to the city in honoring its contracts.”
|
Go FirstGo PreviousGo
NextGo LastGo
to Index
|
|
