This week's Martin column notes the similarities in the arguments for a new convention hotel and past discussions that led to unprofitable investments in Bartle Hall and other tourism bubbles.
Carpenter and Fredericks, meanwhile, began to fight among themselves over a purchase offer. The disagreement has played out in various circuit and appellate courts, even outlasting one of the interested parties. Carpenter died several years ago. His widow, Theodora, soldiers on in his stead.
In 1999, the City Council passed a redevelopment plan for a section of downtown that included the Carpenter-Fredericks property. The redeveloper, DST Realty, had hoped to build an office building on the site. (DST built a new headquarters for Kansas City Southern on adjacent land.)
DST was unable to wrest the parking lot from its warring owners, however. Ultimately, the Kansas City Tax Increment Financing Commission filed a condemnation suit.
In 2005, a Jackson County judge approved the "taking" and awarded the Carpenter-Fredericks partnership $3.23 million. But by this time, six years had elapsed since the plan was created. Missouri TIF law says property cannot be acquired by eminent domain after five years from the date the redevelopment plan is adopted.
The case went all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court. In 2006, the justices ruled for the Carpenter-Fredericks partnership, nullifying the forced sale.
So there it has sat, collecting oil drips.
Rhonda Smiley, Carpenter's lawyer, says she is hopeful the Carpenter-Fredericks litigation, which has complicated redevelopment efforts, may finally be coming to an end. Earlier this year, her side received a favorable ruling from the Court of Appeals in western Missouri. "We're really close," she says.
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