THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 9, 1996 TAG: 9608090505
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 66 lines
The owner of Patrick Henry Mall emerged from the closet Thursday, admitting that it was secretly financing the grassroots opposition to a multimillion-dollar shopping mall proposed by a rival developer.
Crown American Realty Trust, the formerly anonymous corporate face, backed a citizens group fighting to block the proposed Endview mall in Newport News. The Endview Mall is being developed by competitor Mall Properties Inc., which owns the Coliseum Mall in Hampton.
The proposed mall would be built on a historic site called Endview Plantation, which is about 10 miles from Patrick Henry Mall. On Sunday, a front-page story in The Virginian-Pilot suggested that the owners of the Patrick Henry Mall might be secretly financing the citizens group opposing Endview Mall.
Members of grassroots group, Citizens to Save Endview, and Patrick Henry officials declined last week to discuss the group's financing.
But in a full-page ad that ran Thursday in The Virginian-Pilot and other local newspapers, Johnstown, Pa.-based Crown American set out its position under a banner headline saying, ``Let's clear the air about the proposed Endview Mall.''
``Yes, we do support the efforts of the Citizens to Save Endview. Perhaps we should have been more public about that support earlier, but we didn't want our support to become the focus of the debate rather than the truly significant issues which are at stake,'' said chairman and CEO Frank J. Pasquerilla in the Crown American ad.
Crown American admitted that ``some of our concern is based upon our own economic self interest,'' but nevertheless ``we strongly believe that the construction of the proposed Endview Mall is not a good policy decision for the city.''
``It is in no one's interest to undermine the vitality of the city's existing retail market, to shift jobs instead of creating new jobs or to divert precious city resources from more important redevelopment activities, and all to build what may itself turn out to be a marginally viable mall given the other existing retail resources in the area,'' the ad said.
Calls to Crown American officials were not returned Thursday.
Environmentalists, Civil War re-enactors, history buffs and residents who comprise The Citizens to Save Endview - the umbrella group organizing the anti-mall development - issued a short statement on the group's web site. They welcomed Crown American's public disclosure of its opposition to Endview Mall and its support of the citizens movement.
Mall Properties, the New York-based developer backing the proposed Endview Mall, declined to comment on Crown American's admission.
``We're going to refrain from saying anything at this point, other than to say that we're taking this matter very, very seriously,'' said a Mall Properties spokesman. ``This is a new development, and we need some time to review the situation.''
In May, Mall Properties announced it would build an upscale mall covering 1 million square feet, ranging in cost between $75 million and $100 million.
The anti-mall movement took shape shortly afterward when 14 Newport News citizens sued the city to prevent development on the Endview property. The lawsuit alleges that the city failed to consider the historical and environmental consequences or alternatives to the proposed shopping center.
The city of Newport News has 21 days from the day the lawsuit was filed to respond. The lawsuit was filed July 11. After the period for response expires, if both parties agree to go to trial, they will engage in ``discovery,'' a time to compile evidence.
No trial date has been set. ILLUSTRATION: VP Map by CNB