Glendale leaders to appeal court ruling in Arizona Cardinals' lawsuit to halt $72M parking garage

Glendale will challenge a judge’s recent ruling that halted a $72 million parking garage project outside State Farm Stadium and the forthcoming VAI Resort.

In a unanimous vote this week, city leaders approved plans to file an appeal notice in court.

The city is appealing the Arizona Cardinals’ and stadium’s lawsuit accusing Glendale of violating a 2016 settlement agreement by proceeding to construct the five-level garage without the team's consent.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sara Agne last month sided with the team and the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, which owns the stadium.

She ruled that the city cannot build the structure on a section of a parking lot the Cardinals use during home games.

The project, the judge found, breaches the long-standing agreement as the Cardinals and Tourism Authority never permitted Glendale to make any changes to the site, referred to as the Black Lot.

In court, the city said it doesn’t believe it needed the team’s and stadium’s consent for the development, which is meant to support mega sporting and concert events in the area.

City officials declined to comment about the ongoing litigation on Wednesday.

During Tuesday night’s council meeting, City Attorney Michael Bailey said the city intends to reach an “amicable resolution” to the lawsuit.

A representative for the Cardinals said the team wouldn’t comment on the matter as it relates to the City Council vote.

The Cardinals and the Tourism Authority filed their complaint with the Maricopa County Superior Court in November when the city had lined up Fisher Sand and Gravel Co. as the contractor for the project.

When VAI executives first pitched the idea to the city, they expressed a need for a parking garage to address the expanding footprint of what will soon be Arizona’s largest resort.

Cardinals executives, on the other hand, had concerns about the “traffic, fan experience, pedestrian conflicts and other issues,” court records stated.

Team president and owner Michael Bidwill also stressed the importance of including the Cardinals in the talks over the project’s design as it needed to “promote pedestrian safety.” Without such commitment, the Cardinals and the stadium could withhold their consent.

Glendale forged ahead, presenting the plans to the City Council in the Nov. 21 workshop meeting.

Fisher, a North Dakota-based company that’s also developing VAI, was to build the garage on the southwest portion of the city-owned Black Lot, near Montebello and 95th avenues.

The ground level was to have 4,047 spaces, while the four upper levels would have offered 3,063 spaces, city officials previously explained.

The company was tasked with completing the work by early September, just before the Cardinals kicked off their season.

Doing so would have fulfilled the city’s obligation to provide 4,001 parking spaces as required in the 2016 settlement agreement — the result of a separate complaint related to parking issues between Glendale and the Cardinals.

The team and stadium took issue with the plans, though, pointing to a stipulation in the agreement that guarantees they have a say in any proposed adjustments to the lot. Absent their consent, they said, the project was a violation of that condition.

Judge Agne agreed and stated in her ruling that the team and stadium would likely succeed if the case continued in court.

The city, however, is poised to continue challenging the complaint following the council’s approval to file the appeal Tuesday.

Before the judge’s ruling, the city was determined to proceed with the project while the lawsuit played out in court.

After the team and stadium filed their lawsuit, the city put the project up for bid, which resulted in Fisher still winning the contract. A council majority in late February voted to approve the $71.86 million construction plans with Fisher.

Despite the ongoing nature of the lawsuit at the time, City Manager Kevin Phelps said the city was not precluded from moving forward with the project.

Halted: Judge blocks Glendale from proceeding with $72 million parking garage in Westgate

Shawn Raymundo covers the West Valley cities of Glendale, Peoria and Surprise. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on X @ShawnzyTsunami.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Glendale votes to fight Cardinals in court over $72M parking garage