“Scheme Participants” in Greensboro’s $30m downtown parking deck case

Yesterday a Guilford County Superior Court judge heard arguments
in the lawsuit filed against the City of Greensboro by a downtown club owner for an injunction to stop the city from building a $30 million parking deck to service a new Westin Hotel at the Elm Street Center. A ruling was not issued.

Interesting wording in the lawsuit, which was filed by Greensboro attorney Amiel Rossabi, who is representing the Cone Denim Entertainment Center:

The lawsuit notes that because the Elm Street Center was not financially successful, George House and Randall Kaplan, the principle owners, had been trying to build a hotel on the site for years.

The lawsuit states, “Upon information and belief, ESH members, House and Kaplan, and others including Kaplan’s wife, Kathy Manning, an influential and wealthy business person with National political aspirations,began communicating with Council members, including [Zack] Matheny and Nancy Hoffmann, about the Westin Plan. Hereinafter, the entire group of people described in this paragraph will be referred to as the ‘Scheme Participants.’”

“The Scheme Participants, upon information and belief, were concerned only about their own profits and gains from the Westin Plan, but they agreed to ‘market’ the Westin Plan as having a significant public use and benefit to the City, though no such public use and benefit existed.”