A New Jersey businessman plans to make an offer to purchase Solberg Airport that would exceed the $21.7 million committed by Readington Township in its attempt to acquire the airport through eminent domain, officials said yesterday.
Kenneth Esdale, a real estate investor who has purchased property in several counties, is preparing an offer to buy the approximately 725-acre airport, said his at torney, Nicholas Khoudary.
"He's been working on the Solberg Airport project," Khoudary said yesterday. "It's in the works. Beyond that I can't comment."
Khoudary would not identify the amount Esdale planned to offer the owners of the 67-year-old general aviation airport, but said it was higher than the $21.7 million condemnation price. He also refused to say what Esdale would do with the property if he acquired it.
"He's a man of means," Khoudary said. "When he wants to do something he goes to the ends of the earth to accomplish it."
The $21.7 million put on the table by the township corresponds to the higher of two appraisals of the property that were conducted last summer, and nearly matches the amount Readington voters authorized in a $22 million bond referendum in May 2006. But the Solbergs have said the land is worth up to $40 million.
Readington special counsel James Rhatican said Esdale recently mentioned his intention to make an offer on the airport while giving a sworn deposition to Rhatican in a separate case. Esdale did not provide a specific price tag but said he would pay more than the township, Rhatican said yesterday.
"He was under oath saying, 'I'm going to make an offer on the airport,'" said Rhatican, who said the testimony obligated him to tell the Readington Township Committee about Esdale's comments.
But without an offer on the table, Rhatican said he and the committee will continue the township's current course of action.
"I will believe it when I see it," he said.
When reached last night, Solberg Airport owners and their attorney had much the same reaction.
"It is the first I'm hearing of this," attorney Laurence Orloff said. He and co-owner Thor Solberg said they had not been contacted by Esdale, and declined to comment on whether they would consider a "hypothetical" offer to purchase the property.
"I know nothing. I have not spoken to anyone," Solberg said. "We're focused in our effort at this point to demonstrate the town is clearly acting illegally."
Owners have long insisted the property is not for sale. They are currently locked in an eminent domain battle with the township, which is seeking control over 625 acres of open space surrounding the airport and development rights on 100 acres of airport facilities.
After Readington filed its condemnation suit in September, Superior Court Judge Yolanda Ciccone granted the two sides until March 2 to exchange information. She recently extended the deadline for discovery until the end of June, Orloff said.
To prevent condemnation, the airport owners must prove Readington's stated reasons for acquiring the property -- open space preservation first among them -- are a pretext. The owners, siblings Thor Solberg, Lorraine Solberg and Suzanne Solberg Nagle, believe the open space argument is "lip service" masking township's true intentions to constrain the airport out of existence.
Township officials say they do not want to put the airport out of business, and that if Readington acquires the property, the Solbergs could continue to run the airport, which serves as a pilot training ground and aircraft maintenance facility as well as home to the annual Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning.
Both sides said yesterday it was premature to comment on how an Esdale offer would impact the condemnation fight. If Esdale were to purchase the property subject to the eminent domain proceedings, he would "basically step into the Solbergs' shoes," Rhatican said.
Esdale, who has purchased property from public and private owners including the state of New Jersey and Fleet bank branches, was unavailable to comment yesterday, his attorney said.
Real estate records show that since 1999, Esdale has bought and sold property in Somerset, Union, Middlesex, Essex, Mercer, Atlantic and Cape May counties. The nine properties listed under his name in 2006 totaled nearly $1.85 million in value.
Claire Heininger may be reached at (908) 782-8326 or cheininger@starledger.com.
© 2007 NJ.com
Date: February 2, 2007 Source: NJ.com
URL: http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1170395411132690.xml&coll=1
