Downtown Fresno developer sues councilman and city alleging fraud over stalled project
A downtown Fresno developer is suing Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias and the city of Fresno, alleging breach of contract, fraud and more.
Cliff Tutelian, the downtown developer who owns The Grand Tower and renovated Kepler Neighborhood School, filed the lawsuit Friday after the city’s risk management department rejected his claim for damages.
Tutelian says in the lawsuit that Arias demanded he “pay to play” in the form of a campaign contribution and the city broke an exclusive negotiating agreement so he could develop an area just north of Fulton Street in downtown. His claim with the city sought $12.45 million in damages. In his lawsuit, he also seeks damages for legal costs.
Former Mayor Lee Brand brokered a deal with Tutelian to build 160 residential units spread over three five-story buildings and 30,000 square feet of retail space, most of it devoted to a new CVS store and neighborhood market.
The project never came to fruition after multiple amendments, and Tutelian in his lawsuit blames Arias.
Arias denied demanding the campaign contribution or ever being alone with Tutelian.
Furthermore, the city of Fresno no longer uses exclusive negotiating deals.
Tutelian declined to comment.
Arias said he expected Tutelian to file the lawsuit and called the claims “outrageous.”
Arias also said Tutelian’s representatives in recent weeks sought to “extort” him. They offered to withdraw the claim for damages if the city sold him a parking lot with no public bid process, Arias said.
“No amount of baseless attacks or threats will convince me to give anyone the right to develop property without the owner’s consent or sell public assets without a public and transparent bidding process as required by law and city policy,” Arias said.
He said he’s confident the legal process will confirm that the city’s decision to reject Tutelian’s claim for damages was appropriate.
The Bee emailed a city spokesperson for comment on this story. The city’s policy typically is to not comment on pending litigation.
This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 5:40 PM.