Longtime Little Rock lawyer Richard Mays said Tuesday that he will take the Little Rock Technology Park Authority's counteroffer of $1.037 million for his three-story office building at 415 Main St., the home of Mays' law practice for more than 31 years.
The deal, still to be finalized in writing, puts an end to the price negotiations and litigation over Mays' property, which was the last parcel that the authority needed to start on Phase 1 of the $100 million tech park to be built in and adjacent to a city block between Main and Scott streets north of Capitol Avenue.
"It's not a number I like, but it's a number that I prefer over the alternative," said tech park board Treasurer Dickson Flake, a real estate broker with Colliers International who has handled much of the property negotiations for the tech park.
Mays bought his 10,020-square-foot building in 1984 for $100,000 and spent another $400,000 to renovate it.
"It's all a process, we all had to work through it," Mays said late Tuesday.
Months ago, the tech board approved a deal with financier Warren Stephens to buy three buildings -- two of them are vacant -- and three parking lots downtown for $11.6 million. However, negotiations for Mays' property, nestled between a building and parking lot owned by Stephens, didn't commence in earnest until October.
The value of Mays' property had increased as the tech park moved closer to a reality.
A 2014 appraisal by the tech park placed the value of Mays' property's between $470,000 and $530,000. An appraisal by the tech park last month set the value at $670,000.
An appraisal obtained by Mays last month valued the property at $845,000, which the tech park board offered to pay him for the building earlier this month. All the while, the board made plans to condemn Mays' property, claiming the right of eminent domain.
Mays' sued the authority first, saying his property would not be used for a "public purpose" and that for the board to sue would be "an illegal exercise of power."
Mays filed his suit Thursday, and the authority filed to condemn Monday. At the same time that Mays sued the authority, he countered the group's original offer of $845,000 with a price of $1.2 million.
Tech park authority board member CJ Duvall requested a special meeting to discuss Mays' counteroffer. He and board Chairman Mary Good participated in the meeting on phone lines. Board member Kevin Zaffaroni cast the dissenting vote on making the counteroffer that Mays accepted.
Mays said Tuesday that he did not yet know where he would move his law practice, which also includes partner Arkie Byrd and Mays' son and daughter, Richard Mays Jr. and Tiffany Mays O'Guinn.
"I'm working on that," he said about a new home for his practice. "I have some ideas, but I'm working on that."
Workers were out surveying property lines on the Stephens properties Monday. The sales of those parcels are expected to close in January with construction and renovation work to commence shortly thereafter.
A Section on 11/25/2015