The Burlington City Council is supporting legal action unless negotiators make progress on the CityPlace downtown development.
The council voted 10-1 late Monday night, with one member absent, to approve legal action if it becomes necessary. The vote came about a week and a half after Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger declared that litigation will be pursued if CityPlace developers don’t exclude Don Sinex, the managing director of Devonwood.
Under Sinex’s previous leadership, the project was stalled for years. He’s now back in charge of the $220 million project after again claiming a majority share of CityPlace from Brookfield Properties, which took control in 2019 but backed out of a leadership role in July.
A mall that once stood on the downtown site was demolished in 2017, and not much has happened there since.
Sinex planned two 14-story buildings on the site; Brookfield scaled that down to two 10-story buildings.
But now Brookfield is out, Sinex is back, and the site remains an empty hole in downtown Burlington.
Weinberger issued a statement Tuesday evening, saying that it’s been over a month since the city sent a default notice to CityPlace developers, and the developers have taken no action to address it. Because of that, the city now expects CityPlace developers to immediately resume construction on the project’s public improvements — the surrounding roads that the developers had committed to in their agreement with the city.
Additionally, because of continuous delays and failures to advance construction, the mayor’s office told developers that the city is no longer responsible for reimbursing them for these public improvements, as originally agreed to.
Weinberger said the city remains willing to work with “a well-capitalized, experienced property developer” to complete the CityPlace project.
“However, until presented with a viable opportunity for such progress,” Weinberger said, “the city will pursue the outcome that it can legally compel: the construction of eight blocks of public improvements through the enforcement of the city’s rights under the development agreement.”
City Council President Max Tracy said in an interview with VTDigger Tuesday afternoon that, in passing the resolution, the council is trying to work collaboratively with the mayor’s office to protect the city’s interests. He said the move toward litigation is the next best step for the city, after “numerous promises” from the developers fell flat.
“Over the last several years, there have been numerous attempts to move the project forward,” Tracy said. “And those attempts have failed.”
The resolution allows the city to continue negotiations with the CityPlace developers, but in case negotiations fail, it also authorizes the city attorney to engage the Downs Rachlin Martin law firm to enforce the city’s rights under the CityPlace development agreement. It also authorizes the “the necessary budget allocations” to pursue litigation.
The mayor confirmed the city has already retained Downs Rachlin Martin.
For the project to advance, the city needs to see the financial information and other documents it’s been requesting for months to affirm the long-term credibility of the project, Tracy said.
Allowing for another round of negotiations gives Sinex one last chance.
“There’s always the potential that they’ll come back and provide the information that has been requested for months,” Tracy said. “That hasn’t happened yet. So I think it’s important to accompany that with the very real, and increasingly likely, possibility that we will pursue litigation in order to make sure that the city is made whole.”
Sinex called the council’s resolution “shortsighted and not helpful.” He said the council has not heard fresh perspectives from Devonwood or Brookfield, and is focusing only on the mayor’s concerns.
He accused Weinberger of perpetuating a “campaign of public smear” against his company, which took over CityPlace when Brookfield backed out in July. He said the mayor is not cooperating with his new team, which now includes Al Senecal of Omega Electric, Dave Farrington of Farrington Construction, and Scott Ireland of S.D. Ireland Companies as local partners on the project.
“The mayor for his part has been bitter and angry and constantly makes negative comments, which in the end only hurts the project and the city,” Sinex wrote in an email to VTDigger. “Devonwood has sought cooperation and a good working relationship with the city since agreeing to buy back the project from Brookfield.”
Sinex did not respond to specific questions about the city’s accusations that he has not provided key financial documents, or about Weinberger’s new proposal to compel immediate construction.
