Stratus helped sink Wal-Mart deal
Rival developer poured cash into fight to keep big-box store off aquifer land
By Jonathan Osborne
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
A proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter over environmentally sensitive land in Southwest Austin that brought together neighbors and environmentalists created a far stranger alliance.
The now-abandoned project also teamed City Council Member Daryl Slusher with activist Mike Blizzard and the two men's former nemesis, Stratus Properties Inc., one of the largest developers of Edwards Aquifer land.
Interviews and e-mails produced by the city at the request of the American-Statesman show that a grass-roots effort to curtail the Wal-Mart at Slaughter Lane and MoPac Boulevard was in part financed by Stratus, which has plans to put an H-E-B grocery store less than a mile away. Because of a deal it has with the city, Stratus is limited by more stringent development rules than developers of the Wal-Mart site would have been.
Stratus paid Blizzard's consulting company $22,500 to organize the opposition, kept Slusher informed on its progress and, at times, at least in e-mail, relished in the trouble the ordeal was causing Endeavor Real Estate Group, the company that was brokering the Wal-Mart deal and a former Stratus partner on other deals in the vicinity.
Stratus chief executive Beau Armstrong said, ''At the urging of several concerned parties, after a lot of careful consideration of both personal and professional issues, I determined that it was both appropriate and in Stratus' best interest to support the numerous neighborhood and environmental organizations to oppose the development as it was presented.
''There's no way I could turn my back on those people that worked so hard and supported our agreement.''
Armstrong said the proposed H-E-B at Slaughter and Escarpment Boulevard had nothing to do with his decision.
Slusher, who kept in contact with Stratus on the subject at least via e-mail, said: ''It's not important to me whether they did this because they had a financial interest or they just want to protect the aquifer. The end result is we don't have a new Wal-Mart over the aquifer.''
As for grocery stores, which already are allowed under Stratus' agreement with the city?
''The big boxes are a magnet for traffic and more people on the aquifer,'' Slusher said. ''Grocery stores, on the other hand, serve the population in the immediate area. I've said for years that you ought to be able to provide the basic services.''
In October, Slusher helped sponsor a moratorium for big-box retail over the aquifer, with an exemption for grocery stores. Generally, big-box retail includes large Targets, Home Depots and other stores that typically exceed 100,000 square feet.
All this back-and-forth could come into play if S.R. Ridge, the owner of the site, files a lawsuit, as expected. Ridge's lawyer said that could happen this week.
At the very least, the documents offer a glimpse behind the curtain of Austin's political stage and show how some deals in this town get done -- and undone.
The correspondence also raises questions. Among them: Is a grass-roots effort really grass roots if corporate money is involved? When you're up against the likes of Wal-Mart, many involved say, the answer is ''yes.''
Still, the idea of Blizzard taking money from Stratus is odd, considering he was one of the most vocal opponents to the city's deal to let Stratus put houses, offices and stores on about 1,250 acres in the nearby Circle C Ranch subdivision.
read more about it at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/wednesday/news_f31b9ef57046b1b50009.html
Rival developer poured cash into fight to keep big-box store off aquifer land
By Jonathan Osborne
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
A proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter over environmentally sensitive land in Southwest Austin that brought together neighbors and environmentalists created a far stranger alliance.
The now-abandoned project also teamed City Council Member Daryl Slusher with activist Mike Blizzard and the two men's former nemesis, Stratus Properties Inc., one of the largest developers of Edwards Aquifer land.
Interviews and e-mails produced by the city at the request of the American-Statesman show that a grass-roots effort to curtail the Wal-Mart at Slaughter Lane and MoPac Boulevard was in part financed by Stratus, which has plans to put an H-E-B grocery store less than a mile away. Because of a deal it has with the city, Stratus is limited by more stringent development rules than developers of the Wal-Mart site would have been.
Stratus paid Blizzard's consulting company $22,500 to organize the opposition, kept Slusher informed on its progress and, at times, at least in e-mail, relished in the trouble the ordeal was causing Endeavor Real Estate Group, the company that was brokering the Wal-Mart deal and a former Stratus partner on other deals in the vicinity.
Stratus chief executive Beau Armstrong said, ''At the urging of several concerned parties, after a lot of careful consideration of both personal and professional issues, I determined that it was both appropriate and in Stratus' best interest to support the numerous neighborhood and environmental organizations to oppose the development as it was presented.
''There's no way I could turn my back on those people that worked so hard and supported our agreement.''
Armstrong said the proposed H-E-B at Slaughter and Escarpment Boulevard had nothing to do with his decision.
Slusher, who kept in contact with Stratus on the subject at least via e-mail, said: ''It's not important to me whether they did this because they had a financial interest or they just want to protect the aquifer. The end result is we don't have a new Wal-Mart over the aquifer.''
As for grocery stores, which already are allowed under Stratus' agreement with the city?
''The big boxes are a magnet for traffic and more people on the aquifer,'' Slusher said. ''Grocery stores, on the other hand, serve the population in the immediate area. I've said for years that you ought to be able to provide the basic services.''
In October, Slusher helped sponsor a moratorium for big-box retail over the aquifer, with an exemption for grocery stores. Generally, big-box retail includes large Targets, Home Depots and other stores that typically exceed 100,000 square feet.
All this back-and-forth could come into play if S.R. Ridge, the owner of the site, files a lawsuit, as expected. Ridge's lawyer said that could happen this week.
At the very least, the documents offer a glimpse behind the curtain of Austin's political stage and show how some deals in this town get done -- and undone.
The correspondence also raises questions. Among them: Is a grass-roots effort really grass roots if corporate money is involved? When you're up against the likes of Wal-Mart, many involved say, the answer is ''yes.''
Still, the idea of Blizzard taking money from Stratus is odd, considering he was one of the most vocal opponents to the city's deal to let Stratus put houses, offices and stores on about 1,250 acres in the nearby Circle C Ranch subdivision.
read more about it at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/wednesday/news_f31b9ef57046b1b50009.html
