Come together, right now, over me...

The Hedgehog Report, as usual, has a good post on the latest Plaza Residences news. Basically, the compromise talks to limit the Tower’s height failed. It appears that WCI was willing to reduce the height about 20 stories if the lawsuit was dropped, but the litigants were hoping that GGP to buy the Tower site and not build anything. Yes, you read that correctly. The litigants were expecting GGP to buy the Tower site. Effectively, this “compromise” would have achieved the goal of keeping the Tower out of Columbia, but would have required a third party (GGP) to assume 100% of the financial losses resulting from the abandonment of the project. Gee, I wonder why GGP wasn’t interested in that option?

Knowing that GGP was unwilling to become involved, the Tower litigants were willing to halt the lawsuit if the Tower was dropped to 180 feet. However, the developer would go no lower than 210. You would think that if comprise was within 30 feet of being reached, all the parties would be working hard to come together. You would think that, but Lloyd Knowles (one of the litigants) walked out because the meeting was not public. Guess what Mr. Knowles, your suit is not on behalf of the public. Does it surprise you that a suit between private parties would be behind closed doors? It is a sad state of affairs when the litigants are acting as if they speak for everyone in Columbia.