Another motion in Coyle dispute
The nonprofit development group that bought a 125-year-old Charleroi theater building this week is seeking to join the fray in a court fight over the future of the property.
In documents filed in Washington County Court on Thursday, the Middle Monongahela Industrial Development Association, or MIDA, asked a judge to allow it to fight an injunction that temporarily rescinded the sale of the Coyle Theater, which the group finalized with the theater’s former owner Monday.
Washington County Senior Judge John C. Reed’s decision to grant the temporary injunction, which he handed down Tuesday, also bars any further development or demolition of the building.
Charleroi Area Historical Society and two of its members – Nikki Sheppick and Kenneth Thompson – initially filed a complaint in February seeking to block the sale of the former theater, which closed in 1999.
In their lawsuit against Mid Mon Valley Cultural Trust and its president, Donna Vesely, the plaintiffs argue the group breached the trust’s charter in granting exclusive rights to the property Dec. 6 to MIDA, a third party whose plans don’t include preserving the theater.
Richard Haft, the attorney representing the historical society, Sheppick and Thompson, asked for the temporary injunction in an emergency motion Tuesday, the day after MIDA finalized the purchase of the theater and two adjacent properties.
In that motion, he called the sale “in bad faith” and alleged that Vesely and the trust accelerated their timeline for the sale because of the lawsuit. He also wrote MIDA was prepared to “immediately demolish this site.”
An attorney representing the new owner called that characterization inaccurate.
“MIDA has no plans at this time to demolish the Coyle Theater or the surrounding buildings,” Todd Pappasergi said. “MIDA is exploring all environmental and economic and business possibilities with the building right now.”
A Charleroi borough official said Friday there is no application on file for a permit to demolish the Coyle buildings.
Reed’s order granting the temporary injunction “(restrains) the defendants and their assigns, including but not limited to (MIDA) from distributing, liquidating, or taking any action affecting the physical integrity of the land, building(s), and assets.”
A hearing on whether to continue that injunction is scheduled for Monday before Reed.
Pappasergi said MIDA should have been a party in the lawsuit initially because of its interest in the property. MIDA agreed to pay $7,500 for the rights to the property for one year starting Dec. 6. That sum was included in the purchase price of $19,500 for the building and two adjacent properties.
Haft said MIDA wasn’t the owner when the initial complaint was filed Feb. 8. He’d planned to add the group once the sale was completed. He said Friday that he doesn’t object to the group joining the lawsuit.
It wasn’t included before “because from my understanding and the clients’ understanding, there was only an option to purchase,” Haft said said. “It wasn’t an actual contract.”