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FORT WORTH — Attorneys for Arlington and the owners of a hotel that was bought to make way for the new Dallas Cowboys stadium are arguing before a jury this week over bathroom fixtures, lights and copper pipes.
In 2005, the city paid $5 million to Arlington Hosts for the Ballpark Inn on Collins Street to get the land.According to a lawsuit brought by the city, the hotel owners stripped the building of fixtures and valuable copper piping. The city is asking for $1.4 million in property damages and $400,000 more to cover asbestos abatement. "There were holes knocked in the walls and in the ceilings to get to the copper pipe, and there was busted-out drywall," said George Muckleroy, an attorney from Thompson & Knight, representing the city. "It was gutted to the studs."But according to court filings, the owners say they received permission from city officials to take certain fixtures to be used at other hotel properties, because the city wanted the land and not the building. Arlington Hosts also states that it did not remove any copper pipes. "To the best of the defendants’ knowledge, vagrants could have removed the pipes if, in fact, they were removed," a court filing states.Arlington Hosts attorney Michael Hassett, from Jones & Cannon, declined to comment during the trial, which is expected to last all week.ANDREA AHLES, 817-548-5523
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