Pappas eminent-domain case unsettled

Erin Neff

Thursday, Aug. 24, 2000 | 11:25 a.m.

Seven years of bitter feuding didn't end this morning.

Just 90 minutes before they were expected to come to City Hall to accept a $4.5 million property settlement, Harry Pappas insisted his family wasn't going anywhere.

"I never said anything about going down there to sign," Pappas said, still reeling from the legal battle that he claims has caused his 70-year-old mother Carol's health to decline.

But lawyers for the Pappases did pick up this morning a tentative agreement reached on Aug. 17 between the family and Mayor Oscar Goodman. They said their clients would sign the agreement.

The fight over 7,000 square feet of property seized by the city to make way for the Fremont Street Experience parking garage has been the most publicized eminent domain case in city history.

In 1993, the city offered Carol Pappas $340,000 for her property on the block bounded by Carson Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard. The Pappases and three other property owners disputed the city's appraisal rate.

District Court Judge Don Chairez ruled in 1996 that the transfer of the property to downtown casinos for the Fremont Street Experience parking garage violated eminent domain laws.

The city has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars appealing that decision. When Goodman, a criminal defense attorney, took office he vowed to personally try to settle the case.

Nervous city officials eyed the clock this morning with "we've been there before" coming from their lips.

The Pappases were supposed to sign the agreement on Aug. 17, but did not show.

The next day, Harry Pappas contacted the media to complain about the offer because it failed to address $120,000 he said his family is owed for a loss of business revenue. Pappas argued the family lost tenants at a parking lot it owned when the Fremont Street Experience parking garage opened.

Goodman refused to grant the Pappases the $120,000 last-minute request.

Instead, Goodman said he would agree only to the amount related to the original 7,000-square-foot property.

If approved, the $4.5 million settlement will be paid initially by the city's Redevelopment Agency.

The hotel-casino members of the Fremont Street Experience will then repay the city with proceeds from the parking garage.

Former Sen. Chic Hecht was awarded $4.1 million in what was previously the largest eminent domain settlement for his property on the same block.