Charlotte city councilman John Lassiter led the charge to overturn Mayor Pat McCrory’s veto of city staff’s scheme to spend almost $500K buy up Belmont property and go into the speculative real estate business.
“Unless we step in, it will have an extended destiny like it currently is,” Lassiter explained. Sort of.
I think Lassiter is covering all bases in case the mayor’s seat is open next year. Could be wrong, but that is sure what it feels like. In any event, city taxpayers should drop by the Parkwood Food Mart soon to see what city council wants to spend their money on. Quite the bargain.
At $472,000 the city now has an option to spend over three times the current tax valuation of the property and an adjacent parcel, which is $140K. Better still, the current owner owes about $3400 in unpaid property taxes to the city and the county. The city says that it did not require any due diligence on outstanding property taxes or other liens on the property at this stage because council was only being asked to approve an option to buy, not a purchase agreement. Oh.
The current owner of record of the Parkwood Food Mart, Lunn Enterprises Inc., owns numerous other properties across West Charlotte while several more are in the names of president Robert Lunn and his wife Novella. Federal records indicate that Mr. Lunn gave $1000 to Rep. Mel Watt’s campaign last year while Mrs. Lunn contributed $500 in 1998. State records show Lunn contributed $250 to the Black Political Caucus of Charlotte Mecklenburg. The Lunns own a home in Concord valued at $408,000 eariler this year, according to Cabarrus County tax records.
A closer look at Mecklenburg County records reveals previous dealings between the city and the Lunns.
In April, another Lunn Enterprises property a few blocks away gave the city a temporary construction easement and a sidewalk and utility easement in change for $1. The city needed the easement as part of the $30m. Seigle Ave. Streetscape project that is underway. A year before a similar agreement was reached for a sidewalk in front of the Parkwood market. Back in 2000 the firm granted an easement to the city for decorative landscape enhancements along West Blvd. and in 2002 the city got an airport noise easement for another Lunn property near the city-owned airport.
But in 2003 the city had to go to court to take easements on other West side properties owned by Lunn and others. By August 2006 the city was back to paying $1500 to Lunn for a sidewalk easement along Rozelles Ferry Road.
