City of Saint Paul Loses Liable suit
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posted by Bob at Thursday, May 31, 2007
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Thursday, May 31, 2007
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St. Paul / Town Square verdict called 'great' outcome
City says judgment in damage suit small
BY LAURA YUEN
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 05/30/2007 10:55:07 PM CDT
The city of St. Paul must pony up $200,000 for its role in letting water damage create a nuisance at the indoor Town Square Park, a jury has decided.
The verdict sounds like bad news for taxpayers, but it could have been worse. Sentinel Property Management Corp., which owns the floors beneath the downtown atrium, originally wanted to collect $4.5 million.
Louise Seeba, a city attorney, said last week's decision by a Ramsey County jury was a "great" outcome. There's a chance that tort immunity laws could protect the city from having to pay the verdict amount, she said.
"The city always properly maintained the property, and the jury's verdict reflects this position," Seeba said.
The trial capped five years of sparring among the city, New York-based Sentinel and caterer Michael Wong, who bought the park at 444 Cedar St. from the city in 2002. In a pending federal lawsuit, the city will argue that Wong's insurance policy should pay for the nuisance damages.
However, the fate of the space - once home to proms, reunions, band concerts and an iconic carousel - remains unknown. More than 250 varieties of plants and trees once thrived there under the park's glass roof.
About seven years ago, fix-up and maintenance costs prompted city officials to look for a way to unload the space. Officials estimated it would cost more than $2 million to repair the faulty glass roof, and the city's appraiser considered the property to have a negative value.
At the end of 2002, the city sold the park "as is" to Wong, of Minneapolis, who had been leasing the space for extravagant Asian-style weddings. The restaurateur paid the city $101,500 for the property.
But Wong's business never took off. Sentinel sued the city and Wong, saying both parties allowed the glass roof to fall into disrepair. Wong also failed to maintain his water features and planters, the suit alleged, causing water to spill onto the lower-floor offices.
Sentinel documented 30 water leaks, two of which they deemed "catastrophic" in court papers. The two leaks flooded one of the building's major tenants, the Minnesota Public Safety Department's division of emergency management.
Then Sentinel shut off the utilities, making it impossible for Wong to operate his weddings there. The place has remained cold and dark ever since.
Wong now is back to being a cook and owner for Orient Express in Ridgedale Center, a food-court restaurant that he says he can barely hang onto. Although the case between him and Sentinel has been resolved, he said the Town Square fiasco has destroyed his financial and personal life, including his marriage.
"I lost my catering business because of that," he said. "Actually, I lost everything."
Sentinel officials and a lawyer representing the company did not return phone calls seeking comment.
When the park was developed in 1980, the city hoped the sunlit atrium would host musicians and jugglers at noon, providing a lunchtime getaway for the great retail attraction the Town Square building was to become.
For a while, it was a popular retreat from the working world. But retail failed, and the building was converted into offices.
"It is really sad," said City Council Member Dave Thune, whose ward includes downtown. "And now it's one of the most boring office complexes in the city."
Laura Yuen can be reached at lyuen@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5498.
This will be the first of many, and also the start of the "Big Demise" of the current City Council!
Almost a quarter of a Million dollars.
This must be part of that budget short fall.
Is the RICO's considered in that there budget short fall also?
What a joke the leadership in Saint Paul is getting us tax payers sued into oblivion.
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