A tentative settlement of the dispute between the Downtown
Business Revitalization Corp. and businessman Roger Feura has been
reached.
If after the DBRC meets this week they have decided to approve
the settlement agreement, the building at 45 Main St. will belong
to them again.
The building had been sold to Feura for one dollar in March 2005
by owners Christopher and Michelle Angell before the DBRC exercised
its option to take back the building.
After months of dispute on whether or not the DBRC lost its
opportunity to take back the building, and whether or not the
building would remain in the hands of Feura who planned to tear it
down to create a free parking area for Main Street shoppers, it
appears the issue is settled.
“A case management conference was held on Wednesday afternoon at
the request of Feura’s council,” said Chris Hauser, chairman of the
Downtown Bradford Revitalization Corp. “Prior to that, there was
some settlement discussion and as a result, a tentative settlement
was reached for Feura to convey the building to the DBRC.
“Our board has not yet met to formally approve the settlement. I
anticipate the board will meet next week and act upon it formally,”
added Hauser. “Some members are aware (of the situation) and some
are not. We are quite happy we are able to get this resolved and we
will have the building back shortly.”
Group members have said in the past they plan to rehabilitate
the building and at one time suggested they would like to move the
current Main Street Mercantile to the building or create a whole
new co-op at the 45 Main St. location.
A faxed copy of the order was received Friday from the McKean
County Courthouse. In the order, it is stated that the transaction
will consist of the DBRC paying Feura $15,000 within 30 days and
that the deed will be turned over to the DBRC.
The order also states that Feura will attempt to contact those
who have obtained parts of the interior of the building including
any “decorative parts” or pieces of the “central staircase or the
iron gate.”
“When all of these conditions are satisfied, the lawsuit will be
discontinued,” stated the order.
In August, Feura missed a meeting with local attorney Greg Henry
to sign paperwork solidifying the sale of the building back to the
DBRC because he had not heard back from his lawyer what his next
step should be.
The lawsuit mentioned in the order is the one started by Henry
and the DBRC against the Angells and Feura for not allowing the
DBRC to exercise their right to the building before it was sold to
Feura.
That missed appointment also seemed to put into motion questions
on whether or not the DBRC really had a right to the building since
the Angells had gone ahead and sold it to Feura.
In December, McKean County President Judge John Cleland met with
attorneys for both sides of Feura and the DBRC. The primary
question Cleland had during this hearing was about a seemingly
non-existent time frame for the DBRC to decide if they want to take
the building back. Feura’s attorney was Gregory Zimmerman of Erie
and Henry was the attorney for the DBRC.
The meeting Wednesday brought about the potential end of the
suit, as long as the DBRC votes to accept the settlement and the
conditions in the order are met.
Feura confirmed the settlement Thursday.
“We settled the lawsuit,” he told The Era. “We went back to the
original agreement that they are going to pay me $15,000 for the
building … and that will be Bradford’s new money pit.”
Feura said his attempt to do something with the site was
“something good for Bradford. It wasn’t going to work out. I
couldn’t get full ownership of the property.”
In 2004, the building suffered fire damage in the amount of
$50,000.
