Dallas developers in middle of marina fight - Dallas Business Journal: http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2006/06/26/story5.html?t=pri...

Dallas Business Journal - June 26, 2006

http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2006/06/26/story5.html

Friday, June 23, 2006

Dallas developers in middle of marina fight

Eminent domain challenge emanates from Freeport
Dallas Business Journal - by Jenna Colley Houston Business journal

The fate of a 56-year-old family shrimping business in Freeport has become more momentous as a
federal appeals court weighs arguments in an eminent domain dispute.

Western Seafood Co. filed a lawsuit in 2003 against the Gulf Coast city of Freeport to protect against
seizure of company-owned property.

The city responded by invoking the power of eminent domain to pave the way for development of a
marina project by a Dallas partnership. The partnership is affiliated with private equity group
Briarwood Capital Corp. and resort devloper Sun Resorts International Inc., both based in Dallas.

After losing in U.S. District Court in Galveston, the company filed an appeal, which was put on hold
last year pending a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Kelo v. City of New London.

The high court's June 2005 decision enabling cities to seize private property through eminent domain
for commercial development purposes prompted great public outcry.

The Western Seafood case is viewed as the first significant test of the Kelo decision.

Attorneys for the seafood company and city argued their points in early June, and both sides now
await a decision.

Lee Cameron, director of economic development for Freeport, says the city used eminent domain only
after Western Seafood rejected a buyout offer and filed suit.

Western Seafood spokesman Wright Gore III, grandson of the company's founder, says the business
has spent $400,000 on legal fees.

Says Gore: "It's been an enormous financial and emotional burden. This was never about money. We
simply want the right to remain in business."

Strategic tracts
Freeport's economic development group has been working with Dallas developers H. Walker Royall of
Briarwood and John Powers of Sun Resorts since 2002.

The pair plans to develop a private marina with capacity for 475 private yachts on about four acres of
land near where the Brazos River feeds into the Gulf of Mexico. The city already controlled some of
the land.

Royall said the debate is all about money. He said the construction and operation of the marina would

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Dallas developers in middle of marina fight - Dallas Business Journal: http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2006/06/26/story5.html?t=pri...

still allow enough space for the operation of Western Seafood.

"Western Seafood is using this eminent domain debate in an attempt to extort $1.3 million from the
city," Royall said. He said the property has been recently appraised at under $150,000.

"The city of Freeport needs this marina project to combat a declining tax base and a high
unemployment rate," Royall said.

Dallas Business Journal Staff Writer Dave Moore contributed to this report.

jcolley@bizjournals.com | 713-960-5932

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