North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
Wells v. City of Wilmington (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-07-0609, 22 pp.) (Linda Stephens, J.) Appealed from New Hanover County Superior Court (Paul Jones, J.) N.C. App.
Holding: A consent judgment prohibits the defendant-city from using public funds to build or subsidize a hotel at the city’s convention center complex. Since the city is making a profit on the land it is selling for construction of a hotel, the city is not violating the terms of the consent judgment.
We affirm the trial court’s order in favor of the city.
Although a 2013 appraisal assigned the hotel lot a higher value than the city’s selling price, the appraiser admitted that he did not factor in the terms of the purchase and development agreement or the additional $2,300,000 in construction costs associated with the hotel site due to its small size and awkward shape. The “extraordinary assumption” on which the 2013 appraisal was based was incorrect. The trial court did not err in concluding that the land sale does not violate the consent judgment.
The consent judgment also says, “All Convention Center facilities and parking shall be available to all users on the same terms, conditions and prices pursuant to policies, procedures and price schedules established and monitored by the City of Wilmington.” The city did not violate this provision by reserving 250 spaces of convention center parking for the hotel’s use. The city’s finance director explained that this reservation is “on the same basis and terms that are available to other members of the public….”
Affirmed.
