Owner of former Motorola campus blames toll road agency for damage on Austin property
A development group is accusing the agency that operates of a number of Austin-area toll roads of doing poor-quality work that has caused damage on the former Motorola campus in East Austin.
The development group, Tech 3443, has filed a motion in an ongoing lawsuit against the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, asking the agency to stop using a detention pond adjacent to the old Motorola campus to collect runoff water from U.S. 183 or to fix the road the developer says is being damaged by the pond.
Created in 2002, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is a government agency that manages and operates a number of toll roads in Travis and Williamson counties.
The toll agency condemned almost 4 acres on the campus to build the detention pond when U.S. 183 was expanded in 2015. At that time, the campus was under different ownership. The previous owner, Mos8 Partners, filed a lawsuit against the agency over how it handled the eminent domain process when it condemned the land.
The staff at Tech 3443, which purchased the property in 2017, alleges that the pond was constructed improperly and is now causing damage to a major private road, Semiconductor Drive, that runs along one side of the property. Staff members also say the expanded 183 is pushing polluted runoff onto the property without proper treatment.
“This is something we inherited,” said Adam Zarafshani, head of operations at Tech 3443. “We were forced into this situation by the eminent domain case. We’ve had a number of issues that have been unresolved. It's been going on for a very, very long time.”
In a motion filed last October, Tech 3443 alleges that engineers at the toll agency knew using Semiconductor Drive as a dam to secure one side of the pond would cause damage and that the agency greenlit the project anyway.
A spokesperson for the CTRMA said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
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Tech 3443 is planning to build a multiuse development on the property that would include life sciences and technology companies, an incubator, and a research and development innovation center. The campus is on the 109-acre old Motorola campus, which abuts U.S. 183 east of downtown Austin. The campus has 10 buildings and is being redeveloped with 23 buildings.
“Despite the known engineering flaws, the CTRMA opened U.S. Highway 183 and intentionally directed the polluted stormwater runoff into the permanent easement area (where the detention pond is located,” the lawsuit says. “CTRMA’s actions have hastened the deterioration and erosion of Semiconductor Drive, have placed the remaining acreage of the whole property in jeopardy of flooding, and have stymied Defendant’s redevelopment of the campus.”
Using the road to line one side of the detention pond when it was not designed for that purpose will eventually cause the entire pond to fail and cause damage throughout the campus, the lawsuit says.
This lawsuit was filed after the company reached an agreement in writing with the CTRMA to address the damage the pond was causing to the road and water quality, Zarafshani said. However, after the agreement was reached, the agency backed out, instead deciding to build a retaining wall that Zarafshani says does not address existing road damage or pollution concerns.
Zarafshani said Tech 3443 is going to court to ask a judge to enforce the agreement, which would require the agency to design and construct proper water detention facilities. The only other way to prevent further damage would be to prevent cars from driving on U.S. 183, which Zarafshani said is not a reasonable solution.
“We've done everything we can to help them. Our road is in dire need of repair,” he said.
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Zarafshani said the developer is having issues with bringing in potential tenants because the road is in such bad shape.
“We have lots of people that are interested in leasing space on our campus right now. We have a volleyball court. We have a basketball court; we have a dance studio; we have a gym that is already in place. And when our future tenants come in they all have the same question: How am I going to get to the gym? How am I going to get to the dance studio? How am I going to go to the tennis courts? How am I going to go to the volleyball court? Because the road is in such bad shape,” he said.
A judge is scheduled hear the motion in court this week.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Owner of former Motorola campus blames toll road agency for damage
