UT a Players-Hata?

Players has been a UT haunt since 1981. (Photo By John Anderson)

The University of Texas has plans to kill its renowned burger joint neighbor, Players, to make room for a new 1,000-space parking garage just south of campus on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Builders would put the garage up in conjunction with a new university-run hotel and conference center.

Players' owners, two UT grads, have refused the university's offer to buy the property, which they say would devastate them financially, and intend to fight the parking garage plans in court. UT, however, says it will use its eminent domain authority if necessary and condemn the building. Carlos Oliveira and Eddie Hempe, Players' owners, along with their attorney, doubt UT can justify the new facility's necessity and plan to challenge the university's legal right to seize their land on those grounds.

Oliveira and Hempe have run Players since 1981. After leasing for 18 years, they bought the property six years ago. Oliveira said he and his partner banked their retirement on the deal and hope to keep the restaurant in the family. In April 2004, UT expressed interest in the property. The university later conducted an appraisal and offered the two "fair market value" for the real estate. Oliveira says he has passed up several opportunities to sell the property and even if he wanted to, UT's offer doesn't come close to fair compensation.

"The problem is they're just paying for the land. … Well heck, with that, all we're going to be able to do is pay off the property and the taxes and then we're left with nothing – no business, no job. ... We're out on the streets," Oliveira said. His location, frequented by hordes of state Capitol employees and UT students, isn't all there is to his business, he said. The "sweat equity" of 25 years of 80- to 90-hour weeks and the reputation Players has built over the years – the true value of the business – simply wasn't reflected in UT's offer, Oliveira said.

"By law, the state of Texas cannot pay more than the value determined by a certified independent appraiser," said Jim Wilson, director of UT's campus real estate office. "I'm not a lawyer but eminent domain doesn't include sentimental or business value, only market value for real estate." Wilson said he'd much rather negotiate for a purchase. "We understand they don't want to sell. It's not a pleasure to do this. We'd rather not condemn anybody." Wilson added, however, that the plans for the hotel, conference center, and garage are consistent with university master plans and the site's proximity to other university functions is extremely important.

Players' attorney Jorge Gutierrez says UT doesn't have the statutory authority to condemn property; that authority comes from the University of Texas System's Board of Regents. Plus, the condemnation privilege is justified by a "public need" for the university to acquire the land, something UT can't prove, Gutierrez said. In November, the regents approved the acquisition of seven parcels of land in the area, including the two held by Players' owners, through condemnation proceedings if necessary, and based on what they agreed was a "public necessity."

Pointing to the recent legal success of prominent local lawyer Harry Whittington's battle against the city over the condemnation of his downtown property when the city couldn't prove need for public use, Gutierrez said the declaration of public necessity isn't enough. "You have to prove that there's public need for the hotel and that it'll be used by the public for higher education." UT can't prove either of these, he said.

Wilson contends the parking garage, planned for location where Players now sits, will be a "university facility for university needs," which, he says, "we strongly believe is a public purpose." The garage will serve faculty, staff, and visitors, but there's no question it's being built in conjunction with the hotel. Referred to as a conference center with a hotel component, Wilson said the new building will serve several interdisciplinary academic functions, mainly for the college of business. MLK borders the planned development to the south, Whitis to the west, 20th to the north, and University on the east. UT will acquire other properties involved in the project through "regulated purchase," Wilson said.

One of those transactions includes the strip mall to the east of Players, owned by the adjacent University Avenue Church of Christ. When the church sold the property to UT for the project, the several businesses that leased space in the building, including Tele-Print Express, were forced to relocate. Tele-Print owner John Elmore said he regretted leaving the location but noted a stark difference between his situation and Oliveira's. "We were leasing. We knew all good things would come to the end, but Players bought so that it wouldn't come to an end." Elmore said. "There is no real substitute for [Players'] location."

Since learning of UT's intentions, Players has collected at its counter more than 3,000 petition signatures opposing the condemnation, not to mention more than an additional 1,300 online at www.saveplayers.com, a Web site started by two UT students. "It's ironic, because the majority of people signing the petition are UT faculty, staff, and students," Oliveira said. UT will submit its second appraisal offer to Players shortly, Wilson said. Players' owners and their attorney are anxiously watching legislation introduced during the ongoing special session by Rep. Frank Corte Jr., R-San Antonio, that would prohibit a political subdivision from taking private property through the use of eminent domain for the primary purpose of economic development. The bill was filed on the heels of a recent Supreme Court ruling (Kelo v. New London) that essentially ruled the opposite. As its currently written, HJR 19 doesn't apply to public universities such as UT because they're not considered political subdivisions, but a Corte aide said universities are likely to be added to the bill in committee.

The cornerstone of Players' argument against UT's condemnation of their restaurant under eminent domain – beyond the 250-room hotel conference center and parking garage not being a public necessity – is that the center will primarily be a profit-generating, economic development tool for the college – one that will unfairly quash Players' ability to do the same.

UT Campus Real Estate Director Jim Wilson said that while the hotel conference center will facilitate the college's continued and professional education functions as well as all of its academic and research conference needs, "it is very much hoped that it will generate revenue for the university."

A spokeswoman for Gov. Perry told the Houston Chronicle that Perry "supports property rights and was concerned about the Supreme Court ruling," but wouldn't consider adding items to the agenda until the school finance issue had been resolved.