Judge Rules Against Developer

By Jeffrey Smith, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- A Tulsa County District Court judge has ruled against a Tulsa real estate developer in his fight with the City of Tulsa.  He's been trying to stop the Tulsa Development Authority from selling off land around a downtown baseball stadium.

Developer Will Wilkins had been negotiating with Tulsa long before anyone was talking about a ballpark, but when that news about the stadium become official, the city stopped talking to him.  He wanted an injunction to force the city back to the table.  But, the judge said too bad.

Will Wilkins says it's the big-wigs versus the little-guy, and the city big-wigs have been pushing him around for months.

"I would clearly think it's in their best interest to their mission statement to work with a small developer and let it move forward," said Will Wilkins.

Back in January, Wilkins envisioned a multi-use real estate project in a location across the street from an empty downtown grass field. He saw apartments, retail, the whole nine yards. He even had an exclusive-negotiating agreement with the Tulsa Development Authority. Trouble is that empty grass field is where the Drillers want to play.

"When the ballpark location moved, the basic conditions that these negotiations had been entered, changed," said Tulsa Development Authority attorney Jot Hartley.

When this field became the future home of a new stadium, the city backed out of the negotiations with Wilkins.

TDA says they can negotiate with whoever serves the city best.  And, a judge agreed, saying self-interest isn't a bad thing.

"We need mixed-use residential, retail, hotel, and this project bring every bit of that to the downtown area. Why they don't want to embrace that, I don't understand," said Will Wilkins.

"I think it's unreasonable for them to think they had a binding deal.  They've admitted they didn't have a contract in place. I can understand they're disappointed, but that doesn't make the Tulsa Development Authority liable to them," said TDA attorney Jot Hartley.

What Wilkins calls bad-faith, Hartley calls good business.

Now, TDA can sell the land to anyone they want to develop it.

But, the story is far from over.  Wilkins told The News On 6 after Thursday's hearing that he'll try to get monetary damages through a civil trial.

In the meantime, there's still no stadium trust in place to oversee the construction of the ballpark.  The Tulsa City Council is expected to go ahead and try to get the trust approved at Thursday's meeting.      

Related story:

8/19/2008  Council Pushes Back Talk On Stadium Trust