Geracis take long road to square 1

By BILL COATS

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 26, 2000

LUTZ -- Three years ago, ranchers Nick and Peter Geraci had the beginnings of peace and a prize.

After filing five legal actions, they had negotiated a settlement that made allies of their worst enemies: Hillsborough County commissioners. The prize was to be rezonings for a regional shopping mall at N Dale Mabry Highway and Van Dyke Road, on Geraci property.

Then the Geracis demanded more. They wanted at least $15-million in damages in addition to the mall entitlements, plus other new concessions from the county.

Today, that gambit has turned into a disaster.

The county government, forced into litigation it dreaded, has trounced the Geracis before every judge. The mall that commissioners were poised to approve is a faded fantasy. Laws now on the books limit the Geracis' property to half the retail space of a modern mall. The land is zoned for agriculture and is home to cows.

The Geracis' newest setback came a week ago from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Their last remaining lawsuit, thrown out by a Tampa judge, was alive by virtue of an appeal to the Atlanta-based court. But last Friday, the three-judge appeals panel upheld the Tampa decision.

A lawsuit that had generated more than 10,000 pages of documents earned a two-page appeals ruling. After discussing background, the judges wrote only a single paragraph: "No reversible error has been demonstrated. The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED."

Fred Zinober, who argued the Geracis' case, said they are considering seeking a rehearing.

Tom Reese, who has represented neighbors in the mall wrangling, is skeptical. "You're not going to get them to change their minds very easily," he said. "Your chances are nil and none."

A bombshell

In 1997, county commissioners feared the Geracis' chances in court were good. County attorneys had privately estimated the county's chances as low as 20 percent.

Assistant County Attorney Ray Allen, the county's main litigator against the Geracis, worried what a jury might do, given the Geracis were seeking $300-million.

"Even if they knocked it way down, it could still be a significant amount of damages," he said this week.

So the county agreed to authorize the mall, so long as it had some Lutz-friendly design features such as gazebos and a Welcome to Lutz entrance corner.

But the Geracis were frustrated nevertheless.

A rival mall in Citrus Park had broken ground, signing tenants who would be daunting competitors for anyone at a Lutz mall. The Geracis' latest developer, a Montgomery, Ala., company, had backed off.

And the lawyers had reached an impasse over when the Geracis would dismiss their suits: after Hillsborough County approved the mall or after all governments approved it. It still need to pass state growth management review.

So the Geracis replaced their attorneys, and the new ones made new demands, such as the $15-million.

"We had made it very clear to them that money was not on the table," recalled Allen. "This was something that really came out of the clear blue to us."

The letter arrived like a bombshell, prompting County Attorney Emmy Acton to interrupt a County Commission meeting with the news. "It looks like we'll be seeing them in court," she said.

A blizzard of paper

For the next year, the dispute dissolved into a legal blizzard of motions, briefs and depositions across five different legal actions.

One case was filed a day too late. Another was withdrawn.

An appeal of Hillsborough's restriction of only 650,000 square feet of retail development led to a seven-day trial before a state administrative law judge. To prevail, he said, the Geracis would have to prove the decision was so wrong there was no room for "fair debate," and they failed.

"Petitioners fundamentally misconstrued their burden in this proceeding," he wrote.

In a fourth case, the Geracis attacked wildlife protections that would have made some of the property undevelopable. After losing one suit, they filed another and settled for an exemption from the regulations.

The most all-encompassing claim was the Geracis' federal civil rights lawsuit. John Lund, the Geracis' long-time general counsel, called it "one of the most compelling cases I've ever seen." It was scheduled for 20-day trial in September, 1998.

By then, new rulings had clarified property owners' claims under civil rights laws, said Allen, the county lawyer, mostly in Hillsborough's favor. The county sought dismissal of the case. A week before trial, U.S. District Judge Henry Lee Adams ruled against the Geracis on eight key points, tossing out the case.

Attorneys argued the Geracis' appeal May 9 before the same three judges who, two days later, heard the Elian Gonzalez immigration case. The judges haven't ruled on that appeal, but they upheld the Geraci dismissal in only 10 days.

"Sometimes," said Reese, the neighbors' attorney, "I think the Geracis can be their worst enemy."

A new church

While losing the mall cases, the Geracis in February successfully settled the fate of nearly 325 acres to the east of the mall land.

They obtained a long-sought rezoning for "Lake Pearl," a subdivision planned for the northeast quadrant of the square mile the Geraci brothers inherited. County commissioners approved 205 houses on 181 acres there. Neighbors have sued to overturn that decision.

Because the acreage includes the lifelong home of Peter Geraci, his attorney has predicted the land won't be developed for decades.

Also in February, the Geraci brothers sold the southeast quadrant to Idlewild Baptist Church for $4,365,000. Idlewild is planning a new campus there. As a church, it's exempt from most zoning rules.

The mall property, meanwhile, is hardly consigned to cow pasture.

Although rezonings would be required, the county's long-range plans allow consideration of the biggest retail complex north of Citrus Park.

Said Reese, "650,000 square feet of retail is still an awful lot. And they can put an awful lot of offices out there."

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