‘Preposterous’: Tepper lawyers blast Rock Hill after lawsuit over failed Panthers site
Lawyers for a company created by Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper assert that the lawsuit filed Wednesday by the city of Rock Hill is based on “false and incendiary allegations,” court documents show.
The city is suing GT Real Estate Holdings, LLC, in federal bankruptcy court for its original $20 million investment, plus damages, over the failed Rock Hill project.
GT Real Estate is the company Tepper specifically created to build the team’s headquarters and practice site in Rock Hill, which supposedly was going to spur hundreds of millions in economic development. The project collapsed as the sides argued over money.
In an adversary lawsuit, Rock Hill claims it was ready to issue $135 million in bonds, but GT Real Estate was dishonest and fraudulent before halting construction on the site and filing for bankruptcy earlier this year.
GT Real Estate lawyers, in a court filing late Wednesday, slammed Rock Hill’s lawsuit as legally improper and said it was filled with “preposterous” claims.
“It seems that the true purpose of the adversary complaint is to level a host of false and incendiary allegations at the debtor and its principals,” Tepper’s lawyers wrote. “These allegations are utterly meritless.”
Tepper’s lawyers, in Wednesday’s filing, reiterated their previous claims that Rock Hill failed to issue bonds, which were required under an agreement between the city and GT Real Estate to build the headquarters project. His lawyers also said Tepper’s company invested $240 million before pulling the plug after Rock Hill failed to live up to its end of the agreement.
“The city entered into a series of agreements with the debtor to support the development of the Project,” GT Real Estate lawyers said in the documents. “Each of these agreements unambiguously provided that the debtor had no obligation to proceed with the construction of the project unless the city issued an agreed minimum amount of bonds. In good faith reliance that the city would eventually issue the required bonds, the debtor proceeded with the construction of the project to further the public interest in a timely completion of the project. In connection therewith, the debtor invested over $240 million toward the development of the project.”
The city, not GT Real Estate, failed the project, Tepper’s lawyers contend.
“The city failed to issue any amount of bonds by the contractually agreed February 26, 2021,” the court filing said. “Indeed, more than a year later, the city still had not issued a single dollar of bonds, despite the debtor’s enormous investment in the project. The city’s failure to issue any bonds caused the debtor to suspend construction on the project....It is the debtor – having invested more than $240 million into the development and construction of the Project – that has suffered harm from the city’s breach.”
The filing was made to make a statement and reserve GT Real Estate’s legal rights after Rock Hill filed Wednesday’s lawsuit, lawyers for the real estate company said.
Scaled back project
In Rock Hill’s lawsuit, the city claims GT Real Estate slowed the project after construction started in 2020. The lawsuit says GT Real Estate couldn’t find a hospital and hotel to be part of the development, then wanted to scale back the project and find alternative financing.
The city also alleges in its lawsuit that GT Real Estate, by failing to deliver information and documents about the project’s financing, was at fault for Rock Hill not being able to get at least $135 million in bonds for the project.
After the lawsuit was filed Wednesday, Rock Hill Mayor John Gettys said the city’s lawsuit lays out the facts as the city sees them, and the city would refrain from making further statements because of pending litigation.
On Thursday morning, Gettys told The Herald he’s aware of the filing from GT Real Estate’s lawyers and he reiterated that the city’s lawsuit speaks for itself.
“We look forward to the opportunity to share the truth surrounding everything,” he said.
This story was originally published September 8, 2022 at 10:25 AM with the headline "‘Preposterous’: Tepper lawyers blast Rock Hill after lawsuit over failed Panthers site."
