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fine, with the opening of South Park 1VIall there was not competition, the mall is doing fine; everyone is
<br />doing fine, except for the fact that Best Products went out of business since they were here before. That
<br />is another "big box" store that is empty. The other reason he gave was that they. cannot develop this
<br />land the way it was zoned for office buildings. He thought that they had answered that point. It depends
<br />on who was going to develop the office buildiug, Duke Realty could do it. Why cannot Biskind
<br />Development do it. What is the real reason Biskind Development wants to rezone this land, they are not
<br />going to be building Home Depot and Home Place, they are only going to be selling the land, and Forest
<br />City will be building the liuildings. Biskind Development bought that land at approximately $100,000.
<br />per acre: He has been told by an expert (whom he did not identify) that on the low side if the land were
<br />rezoned for retail use, it would be worth approximately $300,000 an acre. They studied the land that
<br />Biskind Developinent has sold recently to Lone Star Steak House, the three extended stay motels on
<br />Country Club Boulevard; they were not able to get all the figures, but they saw a figure that Lone Star
<br />Steak House had paid over a million dollars for the land, that is 2.25 acres of land, that is approximately
<br />$500,000 per acre. If the land in Parcel "E" is going to be worth as much as the land on Country Club
<br />Boulevard, and he has been told that it should be if it got rezoned, he stands to get between $300,000
<br />and $500,000 per acre and will make five million dollars on the low side and close to ten million dollars
<br />on the high side. All without turning over a single spade full of dirt, .all he has to do is sign some papers
<br />and he has made a profit. Then the city is left with the results, the cri.me, the traffic problems, etc. The
<br />developer has had one rezoning, he is not entitled to another one. Mr. Skoulis did not believe that a
<br />court would allow him another rezoning under the present circumstances. They had done their research.
<br />They had information from the National Trust for Historic Preservation about landmark cases that
<br />decide issues like this and• everything that they had read, and he checked these cases in the library and
<br />with their lawyer. He said that there is not a law in the land that would rule against a city or state under
<br />the circumstances that prevail here. First of all he has had a rezoning, he had a reasonable use of his land
<br />to begin with, had it rezoned, and received a better reasonable use of his land, and we have a Master
<br />Plan that says do not rezone it. Just those factors alone would stop them from getting this land rezoned.
<br />They went through seven months of negotiations at the time that they wanted to rezone this land, seven
<br />months into the wee hours of the night. That may not be a legal contract on paper, but to us it is a moral
<br />contract. The man gave his word to them that he was going to develop office bu.ildings on that land.
<br />They told all of their people that, they made copies of the minutes of the council meeting the night it
<br />was approved where they gave a long list of the_ things that they would do if the land were rezoned for
<br />office use, regarding setbacks, landscaping, etc. They gave copies of this information to every new
<br />buyer who moved into their development. They bought on the basis of that promise; they put their life
<br />savings into those properties, they went into debt up to their ears on the basis of that agreement. Their
<br />homeowners do not take that agreement lightly. This rezoning (changed tape) would endanger the
<br />entire area, Brookpark Road is still a limited access highway, it is the one remaining main road where
<br />there is reasonable movement of traffic, if the city starts rezoning land for retail use or any other use, it
<br />will be just like Lorain Road or Creat Northern Boulevard. Another issue, if this property 'is rezoned to
<br />retail use, it will open up 'a homets' nest. The developer who builds the Home Depot; Home Place, and
<br />so forth, would build stores that look nice now. But what happens if these stores go out of business and
<br />they need to fill the vacancies and they cannot, if they start gettmg desperate they would start looking
<br />around and chances are they would put in businesses that would not be desirable, -there is a long list of
<br />thuigs that can be built on that property if it is rezoned for retail use. What happens if this properiy is
<br />sold by Forest City Enterprises a few years down the road from now; and there is a new owner and he
<br />wanted to fill those properties, he would do the same thing, he would rent that property to any number
<br />of things. On that list there are things like mortuaries, funeral homes, laundries, dry cleaning
<br />establishments, hotels and motels, once the land is rezoned those are allowed under retail use, and a
<br />long list of other.things, and they could not be legally stopped once they have that zoning. Who would
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