Jerry Reese, who single-handedly delayed an Uptown ballpark for the Charlotte Knights (Class AAA; International League) with five tossed lawsuits, is back with yet another lawsuit.
Reese, a local attorney who opposed a new Knights ballpark because he thinks Major League Baseball should instead set up shop in Charlotte, alleges in the new lawsuit that Mecklenburg County failed to ask the Knights for financial information to prove the team was capable of building a new ballpark. The lawsuit, filed in Mecklenburg County Superior Court, asks that the lease and all subsequent deals for a ballpark be set aside. Reese’s legal strategies have not killed any lawsuit effort — all five lawsuits were tossed from courtrooms — but they have delayed ballpark efforts.
The Knights have been working for years on an Uptown ballpark plan, a quest that’s died and been resurrected multiple times. The original deal witn Mecklenburg County called for construction of the ballpark in 2011, but that deal was amended to give the team more time to arrange financing. The Knights are seeking to finance the $55-million project mostly on their own; Mecklenburg County has already agreed to lease the uptown site for $1 annually and will pay the Knights $8 million for infrastructure improvements if the meets a series of conditions, including a 2012 start to construction, while the team has also asked the city for $11 million.
RELATED STORIES: Economics of new Charlotte ballpark iffy: Mayor; Economic of new Charlotte ballpark questioned; Knights make economic case for city funding of new ballpark; Charlotte may help fund new Knights ballpark; More legal silliness in Charlotte; Back from the dead! Mecklenburg Co. moves forward with Knights ballpark; Rising from the ashes: A new Knights ballpark
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