Developer calls UI Foundation suit galling’
LEWISTON — The developer being sued by the University of Idaho Foundation says the $7-million-dollar lawsuit is “galling” and without merit.
“I totally disagree with the lawsuit,” Steven Semingson, president of Civic Partners, told the Lewiston Morning Tribune from his Newport Beach, Calif., office. “Our counsel is familiar with the underlying documents and feels very strongly that the cases will be decided in our favor.”
The foundation filed the lawsuit last week, claiming Civic Partners overcharged for work it did and accepted payment for work it never did, particularly on an underground parking garage.
“It’s quite galling to be criticized for allegedly gouging somebody on parking costs when the fact of the matter is we made some major, major compromises when we did our agreement with the foundation,” he said.
In 2001, Civic Partners reached an agreement with the foundation to develop property along Front and Broadway streets, which would later become known as University Place.
But the three-building, $136-million project hit several financial bumps in 2002 and 2003 as the economy slumped.
Loans made to the project by the foundation cost University President Robert Hoover his job. Eventually, only the $50-million Idaho Water Center advanced to the construction phase. It is still being built.
Documents filed last Tuesday in 4th District Court allege that Civic Partners West owes the nonprofit foundation at least $5.6 million for costs associated with a large underground parking complex at the Idaho Water Center.
The remainder of the claim focuses on reimbursement of planning, taxes, legal fees and other expenses. Although the suit estimates the total damages at $7 million, the foundation asks for the exact amount to be determined at trial.
Foundation leaders and its attorney, Beth Andrus, have declined to discuss specifics of the lawsuit.
Semingson also took issue with the 600-page management review of the project commissioned by the State Board of Education.
The review, conducted earlier this year by Boise attorney Larry Prince, was critical of Civic Partners, and Semingson in particular, for not providing requested documents and interviews.
“We returned calls,” Semingson said. “We made ourselves available in Boise. We said, ‘If that time frame doesn’t work, here’s when we’re going to be in town; give us a call.’ “
Semingson said the true nature of the transactions between Civic Partners and the foundation will surface at trial.
And he does not fault the foundation for filing a lawsuit based on what he thinks was a faulty investigation.
“I can understand, if somebody doesn’t talk to us, why they could be drawn to some conclusion,” he said. “My point is that it really was necessary to get an understanding from us. And that just didn’t take place.”
State Attorney General Lawrence Wasden has demanded the foundation restore $18 million to three scholarship and education program accounts to cover losses.
A criminal investigation is still under way by the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office and a federal attorney.