As attorneys in the Solberg Airport condemnation case continue with the evidence phase, a real estate investor is preparing to extend an offer for the property.

The attorney representing Kenneth Esdale said Friday he expects the proposal to come shortly although he didn't know exactly when. He wouldn't name an exact price but said it would exceed the $21.7 million offer from Readington Township officials.

"I'm working on things," attorney Nicholas Khoudary said. "I need to keep going."

Khoudary said Esdale wasn't available for comment Friday.

He wouldn't say what Esdale has in mind for the property.

He also said it's premature to speculate how a potential sale would alter the legal battle over the property although it won't discourage Esdale from making the offer.

Readington Township officials want to acquire 624 acres and the development rights to the 101-acre airport through a condemnation action overseen by Somerset County Superior Court Judge Yolanda Ciccone.

The Solberg siblings, airport co-owners, are fighting the move. Their attorney, Laurence Orloff, has said officials' true motives aren't to preserve open space but rather to restrict the airport's operation.

Township officials say they don't want to operate the airport.

Ciccone recently extended the March 2 discovery deadline to June 29, co-owner Suzy Solberg Nagle said.

Both Nagle and her brother, Thor Solberg Jr., said they don't know either Esdale or Khoudary and haven't been given any information about a pending offer.

"I don't know who this person is," Nagle said. "I can't really comment at all."

Solberg said while he doesn't know what Esdale has in store, the family still has no plans to sell the land.

"We're fighting (officials') right to take because we don't want to sell the property," he said.

They'll contest those efforts until "all appeals are over and we have no further legal remedy and are forced to give up our property," in which case there is no point in talking about selling the land to anyone, he said.

Neither Orloff nor township special counsel James Rhatican returned calls seeking comment Friday. The township's $21.7 million offer is the higher of two township-commissioned appraisals. In May, township voters gave officials the right to borrow up to $22 million for a potential purchase.

Solberg said the township's offer significantly undervalues the property. It was valued at about $42 million about five years ago, he said.

Khoudary declined to elaborate on Esdale's potential offer, saying he is "uncomfortable making comments at this point."

Reporter Andrea Eilenberger can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at aeilenberger@express-times.com.

© 2007 The Express-Times.

Date: February 3, 2007 Source: NJ.com
URL: http://www.nj.com/expresstimes/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-4/117047913185190.xml&coll=2