[Vision2020] And, This is What Passes for Justice: "Judge approves settlement in University Place case"

[Saundra Lund]

http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/1056814.html

Published December 02, 2009 

Judge approves settlement in University Place case
JESSIE L. BONNER 

A judge on Wednesday approved a settlement between the fundraising arm of
the University of Idaho and a development company formerly hired to build a
$136 million campus extension in the state capital.

Fifth District Judge Daniel Hurlbutt Jr. approved the agreement in Ada
County in the University of Idaho Foundation's five-year-old case against
Civic Partners West over the failed University Place development in Boise.

"There are no bad guys in this," Hurlbutt said. "Certainly this was never
anticipated by either party."

The ruling marks an end to legal action stemming from the University Place
saga, which began with plans for a three-building complex conceived in 1999
as a way to bolster the school's stature in the capital and keep pace with
ascendant Boise State University. The project later hit financial snags and
cost one of the school's presidents his job.

Eventually, only the $50 million Idaho Water Center advanced to the
construction phase.

The settlement "is the culmination of the entire litigation over the
University Place project," said Dennis Faucher, a Philadelphia attorney on
the foundation's board of directors.

Under the terms of the settlement, both sides will agree to drop claims
against one another for damages, and the foundation will transfer its lease
of a small parcel of property in front of the water center to Civic
Partners, Faucher said.

Civic Partners, which is based in Newport Beach, Calif., in 2001 agreed to
develop the property along Front and Broadway streets, later known as
University Place.

But when Idaho's economy slumped in 2002, development of the multi-building
project hit several financial bumps and the university and foundation made
questionable loans in a failed effort to keep it afloat.

Concern over the loans resulted in the resignation of university president
Robert Hoover in 2003. A school official, Jerry Wallace, pleaded guilty in
2006 to misusing public money by wrongly creating a university financial
account to cover costs related to developing the satellite campus in Boise.

The foundation filed a $7 million lawsuit against Civic Partners over the
project in 2004, alleging it was owed at least $5.6 million for costs
associated with a large underground parking complex at the water center.