Over ten years ago, Mayor Lisa Gillmor and her council majority negotiated a deal with the Related Companies to develop Santa Clara’s 230-acre golf course. The “vision” promoted by Related was a magnificent retail and commercial center to rival Santana Row.
One of the arrangements, we infer, was for the City to remove David’s Restaurant, which sat for decades at the entrance to the now vacant golf course. David Ebrahimi invested in that restaurant when there was nothing north of 101, years before the convention center was built and nearly three decades before Levi’s Stadium was built. When the stadium opened in 2014, David’s was right across the street, and the business was booming.
David’s was less than halfway into his lease when he received an eviction notice from the City. In an attempt to stay in business Ebrahimi searched for more than a year to find another location, without success.
The city council at the time became irritated, impatient and angry that David was holding up the progress of Related’s Grand Plan.
For the first time in the city’s history, the city brought an eminent domain action and ousted David from his restaurant.
Nearly a decade later, the property remains empty, as does the golf course.
As expected, David sought compensation for his loss, but neither the City nor Related had offered any reimbursement.
After years of delays and rescheduling, David’s case went to court and was heard by both a judge and jury.
After hearing the facts over days of testimony, both the judge and jury came to a decision. David was harmed and the responsible party causing the harm was the City of Santa Clara.
David’s was awarded a meager $1.3 million as restitution for his years of loss since 2019.
Sounds somewhat reasonable.
However, Mayor Gillmor has a different narrative to justify summarily evicting a long-time city business and the City offering him a paltry $5,000 in return.
The City is now appealing the jury’s decision.
Oh, that’s right, I nearly forgot. David publicly didn’t support the Mayor for reelection.
To reach a conclusion, the city cannot right this wrong by making another ill-conceived decision that flies in the face of what’s right.
Maybe Mayor Gillmor can persuade Related to pay the million-dollar award.
Consider that Related has tied up 230 acres of City land, nearly rent-free, for ten years. That has a significant economic value.
The hundreds of thousands of election dollars given to Gillmor and her candidates by Related indicate that they know the value of this 230-acre deal. Few deals anywhere can equal the Gillmor/Related agreement.
Consider 230 acres of prime property in the heart of Santa Clara and its current value tied up for ten years for about one million dollars — when the city was supposed to see nearly $80 million in cumulative tax revenue from a $1 billion+ development by now.
Related should pay the award for David’s loss. They’ll still be hundreds of millions of dollars ahead.
Previous Milestones:
Milestones – Tax Upon Tax? – Opinion
Milestones – Another Picture – Opinion
Milestones – California Fiscal Sense and Nonsense – Opinion
The city of Santa Clara did utilize Eminent Domain during the demolition of its downtown.
This was an excellent and interesting article but there was one factual error. The Convention Center, the golf course, David’s Restaurant (and the rest of the golf course club house facility), Fire Station 10 and the Golf Course Maintenance Building were all built simultaneously. David’s was not there “…years before the Convention Center was built…”. They opened simultaneously.
Keep up the good work.