No decision on TCH lawsuit dismissal motion

By David Hohendorf

The future of The Community House in downtown Birmingham, the subject of a pending lawsuit in the business division of the Oakland County Circuit Court, still remains a question for the community with the presiding judge deciding not to hear oral testimony this week on a motion by The Community House Association to hold an accelerated hearing on its request to dismiss court action brought by the city of Birmingham to delay or prevent the sale of the iconic building on Bates Street in the city.

Birmingham officials filed a lawsuit in late November after officials with The Community House Association announced that the name of that group would be changing to The Birmingham Area Community Foundation which would continue with the original mission of mentoring and support of other nonprofit groups in the general area. The community foundation announcement also included news that The Community House building would be sold.

The city’s legal challenge is based on deed restrictions created by founding members which stipulate that if the operating group was ever dissolved that the building had to be given to another nonprofit group or rented at a nominal rate to the city. The city has asked the court to halt the sale by granting an injunction.

The legal firm representing The Community House Association, the Bodman law firm, had requested a hearing this week on a motion for an accelerated hearing schedule to avoid jeopardizing a planned February 5 closing on sale of the building to the Jewish Federation of Detroit, a buyer that has yet to be publicly announced by those involved in the proceedings.

Reportedly the Jewish Federation of Detroit has signed a letter of intent to buy the building and the remaining details of a purchase agreement were to be finalized and signed by both parties at the beginning of this week.

Although the court was scheduled to hear arguments on Wednesday of this week, the court reportedly notified those involved in the case that the judge said he did not need to hear oral testimony and would be issuing a written ruling on the case based the considerable volume of briefs filed by both parties. A specific date of when the opinion would be issued was not given.

The brief filed by attorney Emily A. Cross of the Bodman law firm states that the association has not been dissolved, just renamed, and suggested the city has no legal standing in the sale, deed restrictions did not prohibit sale of the building and that the city’s legal challenge could jeopardize a planned February closing on a sale.

The legal briefs filed by Cross noted that the buyer “understands that it must comply with the deed restrictions” and “even though not required by the deed restrictions, the buyer intends to maintain much of the current use, including the Early Childhood Center, and event and meeting space.”
 The purchase agreement, according to the legal briefs, would include assurances that those issues would be adhered to by the Jewish Federation of Detroit.

The proposed buyer has, according to the Cross brief, offered to provide office space for the Birmingham community foundation at no charge.

In terms of the sale price, legal briefs say that the buyer has offered more than the appraised value of $7,040,000 in what is intended to be an all-cash purchase. Funds from the sale would be used, according to association officials, to retire debt and help serve as seed money for the community foundation.