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Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.
C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.
John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.
Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.
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The Olympian reports today that a couple is suing the Port of Tacoma, alleging they were cut out of a deal that involving the port's property in Maytown.
The suit was filed in Thurston County Superior Court Tuesday.
From The Olympian:
It alleges that in March 2006, the owners of Marine View Inc. of Olympia were approached by Derrick Urquhart, manager for industrial real estate at the Port of Tacoma.
According to the suit:
Urquhart told the company's owners, Michael and Stefani Parsons, that he was seeking property with rail access to develop for an intermodal center.
The Parsonses directed him to a 745-acre parcel in Maytown, which at the time was owned by Citifor, a Chinese timberland-holding company.
Later, the couple agreed to either buy the property and sell it to the port, or sell part of the property to the port and retain a 170-acre parcel for themselves. They also discussed separating the property into rail uses for the port and non-rail uses for Marine View.
"If it hadn't been for Marine View and Mr. (Michael) Parsons, there was no way the port would've ever known about the property," said Olympia attorney Steve Bean, who is representing the Parsonses.
By July 2006, the Port of Tacoma had "abruptly ended communications" with the Parsonses and bought the property directly from Citifor for $22 million, the lawsuit alleges.
Tacoma attorney Dennis La Porte, representing the Port of Tacoma, said Tuesday that he was aware of the lawsuit.
"There's really not much I can say right now," he said. "I can tell you the (suit) is a dispute over a sales transaction. We feel it's very defensible, and we intend to defend."
Bean said about his clients' intentions, "We want the value of the 170 acres, or give us the 170 acres. We're just going to let a jury decide what is fair. If they (Port of Tacoma) want to keep it (the property), pay us what it's worth."
Bean said he filed the lawsuit Tuesday because he hasn't heard anything from the port after giving it 60 days' notice.
"They didn't give us the courtesy of any kind of response," he said.
Since buying the Maytown property, the Port of Tacoma first proposed a South Sound Logistics Center, a cargo-transit facility, at the site and is now evaluating a scaled-down proposal for a rail yard. Both plans have angered people who live near the property.
To buy and explore development outside of its jurisdiction, the Port of Tacoma had to sign an agreement with the Port of Olympia. That agreement expires June 30, and Port of Olympia commissioners will vote June 23 on whether to extend the agreement another six months.
Olympia Port Commissioner George Barner acknowledged Tuesday that the lawsuit could hamper efforts to develop the property. It also could cloud whether to renew the agreement between the ports.
Commissioner Bill McGregor could not immediately be reached.
"It's a new bend in the road here," Barner said about the lawsuit. "It gets curiouser and curiouser."
Rolf Boone is a business reporter for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5403 or rboone@theolympian.com.
