Mall owner sues to block Fresno State's Campus Pointe project
Mercury-News 4/14/07
The suit filed against the university system and its board of trustees in Sacramento County Superior Court on Thursday aims to stop the Campus Pointe project, which the board approved March 14.
LandValue 77 and LandValue Management, which own and manage the Sierra Vista Mall, claim the 45-acre development was illegally approved because one university trustee has a conflict of interest in the project. Trustee Moctesuma Esparza, who abstained from voting on the development, has a contract to build the 14-screen theater on university land.
Nearby Sierra Vista Mall opened a 16-screen theater in December.
The owners of planned apartments, a 200-room hotel and retail space would also gain unfair tax advantages by locating on public land, which is exempt from local planning and zoning rules, the suit said. The claim also said that the project's environmental report did detail its impact on air quality, traffic, water supplies and the local economy.
A lawyer for the CSU system said Esparza's deal did not create a conflict because his contract was not with the university, but with Kashian Enterprises LP, a Fresno developer who will lease the land.