Alibri v. Detroit/Wayne County Stadium Authority

658 N.W.2d 167, 254 Mich. App. 545
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 7, 2003
DocketDocket 228921
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 658 N.W.2d 167 (Alibri v. Detroit/Wayne County Stadium Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alibri v. Detroit/Wayne County Stadium Authority, 658 N.W.2d 167, 254 Mich. App. 545 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Fitzgerald, P.J.

Defendant appeals as of right the order granting plaintiff’s motion for partial summary disposition pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(10) and ordering partial rescission of an option to purchase real estate entered into by the parties on October 31, *548 1996. 1 The order also dismissed plaintiffs remaining claims. We reverse.

On August 20, 1996, the city of Detroit Downtown Development Authority (dda), Wayne County, the Detroit Lions, Inc. (the Lions), and the Detroit Tigers, Inc. (the Tigers), entered into a memorandum of understanding (mou) for the purpose of acquiring land and infrastructure for, “and construction of, a new major league baseball stadium and a new professional football stadium/entertainment center and appurtenant facilities” in downtown Detroit. The mou provided that the county would incorporate a building authority to be known as the Detroit/Wayne County Stadium Authority pursuant to 1948 PA 31, MCL 123.951-MCL 123.965. On September 19, 1996, the Detroit/Wayne County Stadium Authority (hereafter defendant) was incorporated by the county and charged with acquiring the necessary real property to build and support the proposed stadiums.

Funding for the half-billion dollar project was proposed to come from a variety of public and private sources, including the dda, the state of Michigan (the Michigan Strategic Fund or msf), the county, the Tigers, and the Lions. The msf funding of $55 million was restricted to costs associated with the land acquisition, infrastructure, and site development for the proposed new Tiger stadium. Part of the project funding was to come from bonds to be repaid by a “tourist tax” and from “parking bonds” to be funded by grant *549 ing the Tigers the concession for parking. Pertinent to the subject of parking and additional parking, apparently located west of Woodward Avenue, the mou provided:

13. PARKING.
(a) Project Area Parking. Pursuant to the Tigers Concession/Management Agreement, the Tigers shall have the exclusive right to manage, operate and receive all revenues from all the Project Area Parking for a period coinciding with the term of such Tigers Concession/Management Agreement on terms on [sic] mutually acceptable to the parties hereto. The location and design of the Project Area Parking shall be mutually acceptable to the parties hereto.
(b) Additional Parking Area. It is anticipated that the Authority shall acquire additional parking for the Complex at locations outside the Project Area (the “Additional Parking Areas”) provided that the acquisition of such Additional Parking Areas can be financed by bond proceeds secured by the parking revenues from such Additional Parking Areas. To the extent the Authority acquires any parking facilities outside the Project Area, they shall be managed and operated by the Tigers on substantially the same terms and conditions as are set forth in Section 13(a) above, subject to the requirements of applicable law.

The building of new stadiums in downtown Detroit for the Tigers and the Lions was not a foregone conclusion, however, because the MOU included that any party to the agreement could withdraw by written notice given on or before November 1, 1996, if certain criteria were not established. The mou would also terminate automatically if county electors did not approve the tourist tax in the November 5, 1996, general election. Defendant’s acquisition of sufficient property to assure the financial viability of the project by November 1, 1996, was critical. In that regard, the mou provided:

*550 17. (b) Prior to November 1, 1996, the [defendant] shall investigate whether the property in the Project Area to be acquired by the [defendant] or the dda is suitable to be taken for public purposes. The information from the investigation shall be provided to the Lions and the Tigers, either of whom may withdraw from this Memorandum upon written notice to the other parties on or before November 1, 1996, if either determines that the Costs of the Complex would be excessive, in which event this Memorandum shall terminate and none of the parties shall thereafter have any rights, liabilities or obligations under this Memorandum.

Defendant began negotiating with plaintiff in August 1996 to purchase her property on both the east side and the west side of Woodward Avenue for the stadium project. Defendant represented that it would obtain plaintiffs property and other west side properties through the exercise of the power of eminent domain, if necessary. Defendant also informed plaintiff that sufficient property had to be obtained by November 1, 1996, for the project to continue. The parties entered into an option contract on October 31, 1996, that would terminate on January 3, 1997, by which plaintiff would sell to defendant property located on both the east side and the west side of Woodward Avenue. Additional terms of the option included that it could not be assigned without plaintiffs consent and that if defendant did not exercise the option, then defendant “shall not condemn” the optioned property. The option also provided that “the per square foot price paid to Optioner for the property located on the Westside of Woodward shall be equal to the price per square foot paid by Optionee ... to the owners of the Parcel located on Elizabeth and Park Avenue for the property located on Eliza *551 beth and Park Avenue [hereafter the Abraham property].”

The option was exercised on January 3, 1997, when plaintiff conveyed by warranty deed the west side properties (hereafter the subject property) to defendant for $264,551.94. It is undisputed that the Tigers advanced the purchase money for the subject property and that all the properties covered by the option were within the resolution of necessity adopted by defendant on November 27, 1996. After exercising its option to purchase the subject property, defendant adopted a resolution on May 1, 1998, withdrawing the prior resolution of necessity, except with regard to property defendant had already acquired. After deciding to “downsize” the project, defendant entered into a second amendment of its concession and management agreement with the Tigers on April 28, 1998, by which defendant transferred the subject property to the Tigers to repay its purchase loan.

Plaintiff commenced this action on June 12, 1998. In an amended complaint filed on September 20, 1999, plaintiff alleged theories of negligent, innocent, or intentional misrepresentation, fraud, mutual mistake, promissory estoppel, and violations of federal and state due process guarantees. Plaintiff acknowledged that defendant is a government entity with the power of eminent domain to acquire property necessary for the public purpose of constructing stadiums, including acquiring sufficient property for parking. However, plaintiff contended defendant improperly used the power of eminent domain to take property from one private owner to give it to another private owner. Further, plaintiff claimed that defendant misrepresented that the subject property would not be *552

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
658 N.W.2d 167, 254 Mich. App. 545, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alibri-v-detroitwayne-county-stadium-authority-michctapp-2003.