Residents in Limbo Amid Talk of Land Sale
By Andrea Ahles, and Sally Claunch, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Feb. 1–ARLINGTON — Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks is interested in buying the Stonegate Pines mobile home park south of Ameriquest Field, according to several sources familiar with the deal.
The 14-acre park is on the south side of a Johnson Creek tributary, directly across from the proposed Glorypark development. The Dallas billionaire, who declined comment on the deal, has plans for a $600 million town center development to be built south of the ballpark.
Calls to Stonegate Pines management and to its parent company, Hometown America, were not returned this week. The mobile home park is valued at about $2.5 million by the Tarrant Appraisal District.
Sources said the deal has not closed. Stonegate residents said they suspect a sale is imminent because management has refused to renew leases and is posting notices telling residents to clean up their yards.
Management “won’t tell us anything, and they haven’t since this whole thing started,” said Keith Parker, who has lived in the mobile home park for 13 years. “Basically we’re kind of hung here since it costs $5,000 to move one of these things.”
Parker said his lease expired in April. Since then Parker, who owns his mobile home, has rented month to month
Stonegate was initially targeted by the city when it began buying land for the nearby Dallas Cowboys stadium in 2005. Residents were told that their property was needed for parking lots.
As property acquisition costs escalated, the city opted not to buy Stonegate Pines and other sites on Division Street.
Cowboys spokesman Brett Daniels said the team is not involved in the land purchases for the stadium and had no comment on the potential sale.
If the city had bought Stonegate Pines, residents would have received $5,250 plus moving costs, the same offer made to people who lived in apartment complexes or rented houses in the path of the stadium.
If Hicks buys the land, he would not be required to make similar arrangements.
John Cooper said he knows he won’t get any money to offset his moving costs and feels increasingly insecure about his situation. He owns his mobile home, but he said he can’t afford to move.
“Our manager, if you can find her, gives you the runaround,” he said.
Many residents have left the once-full mobile home park over the past 18 months. About 92 manufactured homes remain in the community, surrounded by more than 60 empty lots.
Sandy Rollins, executive director at Texas Tenants’ Union, said it is common for landlords to stop renewing leases when a sale of a mobile home park is imminent. When a sale goes through, “it creates total havoc in people’s lives,” Rollins said.
“If they can’t find a place to relocate or their home is in such a shape where if it is moved it becomes uninhabitable, the tenants don’t have a lot of options,” she said.
Under state law, landlords must give tenants 60 days to move if rent is paid month to month. Landlords can require tenants to move earlier if they pay the tenants in advance for relocation expenses, including moving and installing a mobile home at a new site.
Whatever happens, it is clear that the property is a desirable piece of land in Arlington’s entertainment district. Glorypark, which is being developed by Hicks and Steiner + Associates of Columbus, Ohio, will include upscale retail stores, loft apartments and corporate offices, all situated north of Stonegate Pines.
“The land’s proximity to our attractions and highway systems makes it attractive to developers,” Councilman Robert Rivera said. “If acquired by Hicks or the Glorypark group, it would be a further complement to the future development.”
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Andrea Ahles, 817-548-5523 aahles@star-telegram.com Sally Claunch, 817-548-5566 sclaunch@star-telegram.com
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Copyright (c) 2007, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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