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

A court has ordered Glendale to temporarily halt its nearly $72 million plans of constructing a five-level parking garage near the Westgate Entertainment District because, a judge ruled, work would violate a 2016 settlement agreement with the Arizona Cardinals and State Farm Stadium.

In her 18-page ruling, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sara Agne ruled the city is barred from building the structure on a section of a parking lot that the Cardinals use during home games without gaining the team’s and stadium’s approval first.

The ruling marks a “huge win for all of our fans,” the Cardinals and the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, which owns the stadium, said in a joint statement.

“The Court astutely determined that the 2016 parking settlement agreement was designed to give AZSTA and the Cardinals a seat at the table in the event the City attempts to tinker with the Stadium parking system in a way that might have a negative impact on the fan experience or pedestrian safety,” they said in part.

The city has not responded to a request seeking comment

In court, the city has said it doesn’t believe it needs the Cardinals and stadium’s consent to build the garage.

Glendale officials had looked to construct the roughly 7,100-space garage on the southwest corner of what’s referred to as the Black Lot, a city-owned site 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 structure was intended to support mega sporting and concert events around the stadium and the neighboring VAI Resort, which is under construction and expected to partially open later this year.

This week’s ruling comes after a City Council majority approved the $71.86 million development contract with the North Dakota-based Fisher Sand and Gravel Co., the same company building what’s soon to be Arizona’s largest resort.

A representative for VAI declined to comment for this story because the resort was not a party in the lawsuit.

The Cardinals and the Tourism Authority sued Glendale in late November. The lawsuit alleged that the city was violating the terms of the longstanding agreement by advancing the project without their consent.

Under the settlement agreement — the result of a separate complaint related to parking issues between Glendale and the Cardinals — the city was required to construct 4,001 parking spaces in the Black Lot.

It also included a condition guaranteeing the team and stadium had seats at the table when any adjustments to the Black Lot were considered.

The Cardinals and the stadium asked the court to halt the project, arguing that they never gave the city permission to move forward with the proposed structure.

Judge Agne agreed.

She ruled that the construction of the garage would violate those provisions in the settlement and went on to state that the team and stadium would likely succeed if the case were to continue in court.

It was unclear at press time whether the city intended to continue fighting the lawsuit.

What are the Cardinals’ and stadium’s chief concerns?

While the team and the stadium’s ownership have argued in court that any changes to the Black Lot must first go through them for approval, they’ve acknowledged that they’re not “categorically opposed” to a garage.

At issue was their lack of input in the project and inability to have their concerns for visitor traffic addressed in the structure’s design.

In 2020, the Cardinals, the Tourism Authority and the city reached an agreement over parking rights to the Black Lot when a resort and water park, referred to as the Lagoon, were first proposed near 91st Avenue and Cardinals Way.

Eventually, the developer abandoned the project and sold it to VAI, which greatly expanded the overall footprint. VAI plans to have about 1,100 hotel rooms, while its venue space is anticipated to accommodate 10,000 to 12,000 people.

When the city approached Cardinals officials in late 2022, team president and owner Michael Bidwill expressed concerns for “traffic, fan experience, pedestrian conflicts and other issues,” the ruling noted.

Bidwill reiterated the same concerns during a later meeting with city officials and VAI executives, and stressed the importance of including the Cardinals in the talks over the project’s design.

The team, the ruling stated, wanted to ensure that the garage prioritized fans’ experiences when driving in and out of the area on game days, and that a traffic study would be conducted as part of the bidding process for the construction contract.

“To date, City of Glendale engineers have indicated that no such traffic study has been completed,” Agne stated in the ruling.

Short of being convinced that the project’s design would “promote pedestrian safety,” the Cardinals and stadium had the right to “withhold their consent,” the ruling added.

How did we get here?

When State Farm Stadium was being built, Glendale and the team agreed that the city would provide 11,000 parking spaces for games, 6,000 of which were to be in Westgate.

However, Glendale had transferred much of the available land it owned to developers over the years, creating a lack of parking spaces. In response, the team and stadium owners filed a $66.7 million claim in 2012.

They eventually reached the 2016 settlement, with the city agreeing to a $17 million payment and construction of new lots.

After taking over the Lagoon development, VAI officials went to the city asking to discuss the need for a parking garage on the nearby Black Lot. They wanted to address the expansion of the development’s performance venue.

Initially, talks centered around leasing the parking lot, but Glendale decided it was in its best interest to keep it as city-owned property and construct the garage with Fisher as the contractor.

Glendale leaders met on Nov. 21 for a workshop meeting where they received a presentation from City Manager Kevin Phelps. He outlined the project and explained that the city had already lined up Fisher.

Citing an emergency procurement statute in state law, the city tapped Fisher, which was to complete the work by early September, just in time for the Cardinals to kick off their season, thereby fulfilling the obligation to provide 4,001 spaces as required in the settlement.

The next day, the team and stadium filed their latest lawsuit seeking the injunction. Afterward, the city changed course, launching a solicitation process for the contract, putting out a request for qualifications. Four companies, one of them being Fisher, submitted bids.

In late February, the city recommended that the council award the contract to Fisher. That raised some questions over the procurement process by one resident and Councilmember Jamie Aldama. He and Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff voted against the project.

There were no upcoming court dates scheduled for this case as of late Thursday afternoon.

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: Court orders Glendale to stop $72 million parking garage project