CHARLESTON, WV John Q. Hammons Hotels Two, a limited partner of John Q. Hammons Hotels Inc., filed suit against the Charleston Urban Renewal Authority (CURA) in U.S. District Court last week over a 1994 deal to redevelop Charlestons Embassy Suites hotel.
The downtown property had significant damage from the contaminated soil on which it was built the soil was soaked with gasoline from a long-gone service station. Hammons spent more than $500,000 to remove the contaminated soil, and believes that CURA should foot the bill.
CURA sold the property to Hammons for $2.2 million as part of its Triangle Urban Renewal Plan. The suit said that CURA had known since at least 1991 that the soil beneath the lot had been contaminated by petroleum-based products. (2/14/01)
SOURCE: The Charleston Gazette, WV