A nasty dispute over a key piece of land near the $975 million Vikings stadium site got stickier Friday when the public board overseeing the project charged the property owner with "grossly" overstating its value. In a counterclaim to a lawsuit filed last week in Hennepin County District Court, the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority alleged that Minneapolis Venture LLC, which owns the land under the Downtown East light-rail stop, has greatly inflated the property’s development potential and value — nearly double the authority’s appraised value —in order to squeeze millions of dollars from the board at a time when a tentative construction start on the stadium is only weeks away. It also contends that Minneapolis Venture cannot terminate a 2003 agreement with the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, the authority’s predecessor, over using a portion of the block as a public plaza before NFL games or other sporting events. That agreement expires Oct. 31. Michele Kelm-Helgen, the authority chairwoman, Friday called the threat to end the plaza deal "a negotiating tactic" by Minneapolis Venture to gain leverage in the valuation dispute. "They know it’s an important piece of property to their project," she said. "And to me, they are grossly overstating what the value is. From the public’s perspective, there’s no way we could ever agree to that." Source: Star Tribune
