Judge grants association ownership of Hopkins

HENDERSON HARBOR — The heated battle over the condemned Mark Hopkins Performing Arts Center came to a quiet conclusion Nov. 27 when state Supreme Court Judge Joseph D. McGuire granted the Henderson Harbor Performing Arts Association ownership of the 18-acre parcel of land.

"We're going to start moving forward," said Eunice J. Westcott, the group's president. "It's such a relief."

The question of just who should hold title to the land has forged an ongoing battle for a number of years between the town of Henderson and the association.

The town transferred the property to the association in 1996. As part of this agreement, the association was required to make improvements totaling at least $100,000 and renovate the four-story building over a three-year period. If the association did not keep up its end of the bargain, the land would go back to town ownership.

The town and the association have been disputing the amount of money actually put into repairs on the property. The association claims it spent at least $100,000 from grants, fundraisers and services on the property while the town claims that the association did not.

In 2007, the town declared the building condemned and ordered the arts group to demolish it by June 1. When that did not happen, the town asked its attorney to help it take back the land. In May 2008, the town voted to retrieve title to the land.

In October 2008, the association took its cause to state Supreme Court, hoping a judge would acknowledge its proof of repairs and improvements on the property and grant the association undisputed ownership of the parcel. The town followed suit with a counterclaim two months later, also seeking ownership.

Nearly a year later, Judge McGuire ruled that the association has "sufficiently proven its compliance with the deed conditions and is entitled to the release contemplated by the deed."

Plans for the building and land's future are still unclear. Ms. Westcott said the association has every intent of dealing with the condemned building.

"The building will be coming down in order to make it a useable piece of land," she said. "We'll start as soon as we can."

There is no set plan for what the land will be used for or how much money the group will need for future improvements, but Ms. Westcott said the association board is meeting soon to discuss possible plans for the land and fundraising.

Henderson Town Supervisor Clyde E. Moore declined to comment on the judgment, at first saying the paper wouldn't print anything he had to say.

He then said, "It didn't bother me either way; I just wanted it over."