A Dallas architecture firm says it was never paid for design work it did for Glorypark, the delayed town-center project in Arlington being developed by Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks. In a letter and an e-mail sent to Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck last week, architect Ed Copeland said he is owed at least $347,215 for construction documents that his firm, CamargoCopeland, produced for parking garages that were supposed to be part of Glorypark.
"The partners of CamargoCopeland, who attended the University of Texas at Arlington, were proud to have been asked to participate in such an exciting project as Glorypark; however, to be denied our contractual fees is abusive," the letter says.
The letter also says CamargoCopeland is not the only firm that was not fully paid for services. It says general contractor VCC and architecture firm RTKL have also not been paid. Messages left for VCC were not returned, and RTKL declined to comment.
Glorypark was originally planned as a $1.2 billion town-center development between Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. The development plan included retail and office space, as well as town homes and condominiums.
Hicks announced in May 2008 that the project was being delayed because it could not get financing for the initial phase after it was unable to sign Dillard’s department store as its anchor tenant. At the time, Hicks repaid the city of Arlington $1.1 million in fees that the city had incurred because of development work on Glorypark.
Wednesday, Hicks Holdings said it’s not responsible for paying CamargoCopeland. "Hicks Holdings is in fact the largest creditor to the Glorypark Town Center L.P. Hicks Holdings was an investor in the partnership, not a guarantor of it," Hicks’ firm said in a prepared statement. "We remain hopeful that these issues can be resolved."
In an interview with the Star-Telegram, Copeland said the firm was contracted to create construction plans for parking garages for a total of $685,000. The small firm, which has about 20 employees, completed about half of the work when it was told that the project was on hold.
Under the terms of CamargoCopeland’s contract, Copeland said, the firm is currently owed $409,476, which includes interest."It didn’t filter down to me that this project was a project that was unfunded, because we certainly wouldn’t have applied the resources and the amount of time that we did, and expended the money we did, with the idea that" the firm might not be paid, Copeland said.
The Dallas financier’s sports firm, Hicks Sports Group, which owns the Rangers and the Dallas Stars, recently skipped a quarterly interest payment on $525 million in debt. It has said it is looking for minority investors to purchase stakes in the two sports franchises so it can use the proceeds to pay down debt.
Columbus-based developer Steiner + Associates, who was also a partner in Glorypark, confirmed Wednesday that there is no money in Glorypark Town Center L.P., which Hicks Holdings controls. Although the project has been delayed, Hicks is currently in discussions with another developer, Baltimore-based Cordish Co., to develop a project that would replace Glorypark. It would focus more on entertainment venues and restaurants instead of retail.
Cluck said Hicks set up a meeting for the mayor with Cordish officials several months ago so that Cluck could be briefed on the types of developments in Cordish’s portfolio. Cordish is a real estate developer that has worked on projects including Power Plant Live in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, Bayou Place in Houston and Ballpark Village, a proposed development near Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
The company also developed Kansas City Power & Light District, where disappointing sales-tax revenues have forced the city to dip into its general fund to make bond payments on the project, according to newspaper reports.
Cluck said he had heard that there was discontent about Glorypark, but Copeland’s letter was the first official notice he had received about contractors not being paid. While he is concerned that some Glorypark contractors have not been paid, he said the city has not talked with Hicks about it. "Even though it is a sad situation, the city really has no involvement with that. It is the developers’ issue, and there is not much we can do," Cluck said.