Officials: Cone Denim's legal access increases with deck ... - Greensboro News & Record

GREENSBORO — Cone Denim Entertainment Center will have better access — not worse — to its backstage loading area once the Davie Street parking deck is built, city officials said Monday.

If necessary, they said, the city will use its power of condemnation to buy a small right-of-way behind the venue, where tour buses park to unload equipment.

But the mayor, city manager and city attorney said they're hoping it won't come to that.

Meanwhile, City Manager Jim Westmoreland said monthly parking rates will increase throughout downtown starting Jan. 1, 2019 — from $65 a month to $80 or $90 a month. 

That increase, and another smaller one in 2020, will help pay the $58 million construction loan for the Davie Street deck and a second one planned for Eugene and Bellemeade streets, he said.

The city's stance on Cone Denim's easement, and news of the parking price hike, emerged during an interview Monday with Westmoreland, Mayor Nancy Vaughan and City Attorney Tom Carruthers.

On Sunday, the News & Record reported on the city's five-month dispute with the owners of Cone Denim, who opened the South Elm Street venue in 2014.

The owners, led by local businessman Rocky Scarfone, say the six-story deck will put them out of business. Tour buses will have only one way in — via a driveway on East Market Street. And they'll have only one way out — by backing out onto East Market.

Negotiations deteriorated to the point when last week city officials asked Cone Denim’s owners to provide a fair-market value of the building and business — presumably to measure the cost of buying them out.

Amiel Rossabi, an attorney and part owner of Cone Denim, has asked the City Council to postpone a vote scheduled for Dec. 19, which would clear a path for building the Davie Street deck — with or without an agreement between the city and the owners.

Rossabi said owners will have no option but to sue if the city votes to build the deck and condemns the right-of-way.

On Monday, Vaughan said the City Council still plans to vote Dec. 19 on both parking decks. The city wants to work with Cone Denim, she said, and "wants to see that business continue to thrive."

"But if we pass the decks, we have to assume we've recognized the possibility of moving forward with condemnation," she said. "It's only honest to say we're moving forward with condemnation, but leaving the lines of communication open."

The officials said the proposed 18-foot-wide alley behind Cone Denim is more space than the venue currently owns. They also said they've redesigned the deck so a tour bus and trailer can park on the first floor. The city is offering $55,000 for the easement.

"The physical area available (will be) much greater than they have today," Westmoreland said of Cone Denim's access once construction is finished.

The proposal for the two decks calls for the city to reimburse developers $28 million for the Davie Street deck being built in conjunction with a Westin Hotel behind Elm Street Center.

That project is being led by Randall Kaplan, a local businessman and philanthropist whose wife, Kathy Manning, recently announced her candidacy for the 13th Congressional District in Greensboro.

The city also would reimburse developers $30 million for the deck on Bellemeade. Local developer Roy Carroll is leading that project, which includes an Aloft Hotel and another $150 million in construction near the Greensboro Grasshoppers' First National Bank Field.

Vaughan disputed comments made by local activists with Democracy Greensboro and others that the projects amount to corporate welfare or "crony capitalism." 

Downtown needs both decks, since most of the existing downtown parking lots are at capacity, she said. It's smart to tie the Davie Street deck to the Westin, she said.

"I reject that it's cronyism because we're building a deck that is needed downtown," Vaughan said. "(The Westin developers) are not getting a discount on parking spaces. I think this is a great way to build a parking deck and the people of Greensboro will be the benefit of it."

City officials also said:

• The retail space being built into the Davie Street deck will be transferred to the Westin developers in a "land swap" agreement. The city will give the retail space in exchange for a parking deck  underneath the hotel. 
• The council will vote separately Dec. 19 on the Bellemeade deck, which means Carroll's project won't be tied up if there are legal issues between the city and Cone Denim.
• City officials believe the Westin project, which has progressed with fits and stops since 2010, is a go, despite the city not having a contract in place. "Our working belief is they have the financing and partnerships in place with Westin and that project is a certainty." 

Whatever happens with the Davie Street deck Dec. 19 will happen without Councilman Justin Outling's vote.

Outling, a partner at the law firm Brooks Pierce, must recuse himself because the firm has handled business transactions related to the deal.

That means eight council members, rather than nine, will vote on the deal. A 4-4 vote would mean the deal fails.

Outling said Monday he has no known conflicts with the Bellemeade deck and plans to vote on that deal. 

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