One developer sues another over opposition to projects in downtown Beaufort
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Beaufort developer Dick Stewart filed a lawsuit on Monday, July 17, 2023, against Graham Trask and his father George G. Trask in response to the legal battles and alleged spread of disinformation revolving around the construction of a hotel and parking structure in downtown Beaufort.
Graham Trask has filed two separate lawsuits under his business entities, Mix Farms, LLC and West Street Farms, LLC, against the City of Beaufort, 303 Associates, LLC and the Beaufort Inn, LLC, both of which are owned by Stewart, claiming that the plans for the proposed hotel and parking structure do not abide by the city’s laws for size.
George Trask does not have an ownership interest in either of Graham Trask’s businesses and was not a plaintiff in either lawsuit.
Stewart, who is currently retired, said during an interview with The Island News on Tuesday that he filed the suit to try and stop the spread of misinformation.
“We have been quiet and waited on the courts to rule,” Stewart said.
The lawsuit seeks to recoup $40 million in damages from lost income, increases in materials and labor due to inflation and financing costs caused by delays in construction due to the projects being paused due to ongoing legal battles with the defendants and the Historic Beaufort Foundation (HBF).
Additional punitive damages due to damage to reputation, legal costs and personnel time bring the total number to more than $120 million.
“Having operated our business in Beaufort for over 25 years, we have never been confronted by such deception and outright lies about our projects or our people,” Stewart said. “We have always avoided mudslinging. Now that the courts have ruled that we did follow the processes, it is only reasonable that the bad actors be accountable for the damage they have caused.”
The two lawsuits filed by Trask have gone through their initial hearings and in both cases the judge has ruled that the City of Beaufort, 303 Associates and the Beaufort Inn followed the law when getting the plans to build the parking structure and Marriott-affiliated hotel approved by the Historic Beaufort Review Board.
That said, appeals and further litigation in both suits are still pending.
Per the lawsuit, the Trasks, who own a significant amount of property in Beaufort, have been some of the most outspoken critics of the project, saying that the proposed structures violate city law due to their massive size and will destroy the overall historical aesthetic of the downtown area.
In addition to fighting through the court system, the lawsuit states that Trasks have publicly expressed their opposition to the projects on their online news site, The Beaufort Tribune, and through emails and social media from their group, the Beautiful Beaufort Alliance.
As of Wednesday afternoon, when he spoke with The Island News, Graham Trask said that, to his knowledge, his lawyer had not been served the papers about the lawsuit, but he found the suit online on the Beaufort County Courts website.
Trask said that he did give his lawyer, Andy Gowder in Charleston, permission to accept the lawsuit but his lawyer is currently on vacation.
According to Ned Nicholson, legal counsel for 303 Associates, Trask’s lawyer has agreed to accept the service when he returns from his vacation on July 31.
Trask claims that the lawsuit is a type of suit referred to as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) lawsuit.
“This appears to be an act of desperation by Dick Stewart to illegally silence critics who have followed the legal process to appeal what are certainly illegal actions by the City of Beaufort,” Trask said. “Clearly, I, my entities and my father will vigorously defend these unsubstantiated and false accusations.”
Emails suggest a partnership was discussed
In the lawsuit and in his interview, Stewart alleges Graham Trask only began to oppose the project, publicly and legally, after he asked to partner with Stewart on the projects and Stewart turned him down.
To support this, the lawsuit contains the transcripts of many back-and-forth emails correspondences between Stewart and Trask talking about their properties in downtown Beaufort and the proposed projects.
Trask said in response to the contents of the lawsuit that the claim was simply not true.
One thing that both parties agree on is that at one point Trask had an agreement with Beaufort Inn to manage one of his properties adjacent to the location of the new hotel and parking structure, and that agreement ended poorly primarily due to a dispute over the removal of a tree on Trask’s property.
According to the lawsuit, in December 2020, there were several trees on Trask’s property adjacent to 812 Port Republic Street, which was owned by The Beaufort Inn and 303 Associates.
The property was slated for demolition, but there was concern that the trees had roots that were growing under the building that was to be demolished and that once that building was gone the trees would become unstable and may fall onto and damage the buildings on Trask’s property at 221 West Street.
The demolition contractor hired by 303 Associates and Beaufort Inn removed a part of the tree, but eventually took the entire tree down after it appeared to have become unstable, which, according to the lawsuit, Trask said he had not agreed to.
According to Stewart, this was when Graham Trask’s attitude toward the downtown Beaufort projects changed.
Trask disagreed and said that Stewart “has concocted false reasons and false assertions as to the motives behind filing the lawsuits.”
“It appears that it is a public relations smear campaign, frankly,” Trask said. “But I guess he will have to deal with any of the consequences that will occur from his actions.”
Stewart said, “We have always acted within the rules and law of this city and will always do so. This suit is simply our only available option to stop the disinformation and falsehoods that have been pushed by a select few with their own personal agendas. We have tried to engage in a reasonable manner for some time with each of them, to no success.”
Projects haven’t started
Beaufort Mayor Stephen Murray told The Island News there is nothing legally stopping 303 Associates and The Beaufort Inn from going forward with construction on the hotel and parking structure in downtown Beaufort.
Stewart said that he is currently waiting on information from a utility firm regarding underground pipes before starting the bulk of the construction on the parking structure and hotel expansion, but once construction gets underway, he estimates that the projects will take about two years to complete.
“These buildings and these projects are going to be wonderful for the City of Beaufort,” Stewart said.
Despite the ongoing legal battles over the past several years, Murray said that to his knowledge there has never been anything to legally prevent construction on the buildings from going forward as they have gone through all the appropriate channels and have secured approval from the City of Beaufort under the current code and laws.
In addition, the projects went through 13 rounds of public reviews led by the city’s Historic District Review Board and was approved, with that approval being upheld in by two circuit court judges in response to Trask’s lawsuits.
“The two projects have always been allowed to go forward as there has not been an emergency injunction filed, and that would cost a significant amount of money to do so,” said Mayor Murray. “They have their permits in hand and can legally proceed.”
Trask thinks differently and said that this lawsuit, to him, is a sign that Stewart will never go forward with construction of the buildings.
“I think it has terminally damaged the prospect of him being able to build those projects – I mean I think the chances were probably pretty small anyway – but I think this is the final nail in the coffin,” Trask said. “Because now all the attention is going to be on this.”
Murray said that he was recently informed that an appeal for one of Trask’s previous lawsuits against the City of Beaufort, 303 Associates and The Beaufort Inn will be heard on August 1.
Delayna Earley lives in Beaufort with her husband, two children and Jack Russell. She formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She joined The Island News in 2022. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
Clarification
An earlier online version of this story stated that George Trask and Graham Trask had filed lawsuits against the City of Beaufort, 303 Associates, LLC and the Beaufort Inn, LLC under the business entities Mix Farms, LLC and West Street Farms, LLC. Though George Trask is the registered agent for both those entities, he has no ownership interest in either and is not a plaintiff in the lawsuits.
