Jimmy Settle

jsettle@theleafchronicle.com

CLARKSVILLE — Downtown Clarksville's Blackhorse Pub and Brewery owners Jeff and Sherri Robinson are suing the city of Clarksville in 19th District Circuit Court, seeking at least $300,000 to compensate for what are described as FSC's losses from alleged breach of contract on the city's part, plus diminished property value, intentional interference with business and inverse condemnation.

The Robinsons are suing under the auspices of Franklin Street Corporation (FSC), which is the corporation that includes their well-known business, and now say they're taking their plans to build a brewhouse on a vacant lot in downtown Clarksville across the state to Knoxville.

The Leaf-Chronicle sought reaction and comment early Friday from Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan and city attorney Lance Baker. Both Baker and city spokeswoman Jennifer Rawls, speaking on McMillan's behalf, said they do not comment on pending litigation. Baker added that the city had just been served the lawsuit late this week and hadn't had time to review its specific content.

The property dispute outlined in the Robinsons' suit is multi-faceted. Represented by attorneys Olson & Olson PLC, the Robinsons own two parcels at 132 and 134 Franklin St., which serve as the combined restaurant and brewery, and one of downtown's more popular public attractions. FSC also owns two parcels at 110 S. Second St., long reserved as the site for the future brewhouse for the Blackhorse.

Now, after delays which are blamed on the city, Jeff Robinson says that brewhouse is going to Knoxville's Blackhorse location, rather than downtown Clarksville, to help his specialty beer-brewing business meet growing demand.

"Sherri and I had really wanted to grow our business on the vacant lot that we have been sitting on since 2002. We regret that, because of the way this has been handled by the city and how it has unfolded, we have had to go with another location in Knoxville," Robinson told The Leaf-Chronicle Friday morning.

In 2002, three years after the downtown tornado had destroyed the two buildings that had previously been on the Second Street site, FSC purchased the two parcels and conveyed a portion of it to the city. The city owns, according to the suit, 11 1/2 feet of real property, essentially identified as an alley, which runs lengthwise, adjacent to the FSC buildings on Franklin Street.

"When the city purchased this property from FSC, the transaction was undertaken at the request of then-Mayor Johnny Piper, with the understanding that the city would install, upgrade and maintain underground utilities.

This alley would provide access to utilities, to the rear of the Franklin Street FSC buildings, and would be developed and maintained as an alley, the lawsuit states,

Piper had coordinated combining the efforts of the city Gas & Water Department, Street Department, and Clarksville Department of Electricity to purchase the proposed alley for the city. The City Council had also voted in favor of it at that time.

After the city purchased its portion of land to make an alley, utilities were installed, and a curb cut was put in to the Second Street sidewalk. While FSC's building site has been vacant since 2002, the city had used it to access the rear of the Franklin Street properties to maintain the utilities, the suit states.

Once a building was to be constructed on the building site, the Robinsons say the alley which is owned by the city would provide the only means of access to utilities and exit and entry from the rear of the Franklin Street buildings.

FSC has continued to own the building site, and has developed plans to construct a building on the site which would serve as a brewhouse to help the business meet growing demand for its brewing operations.

The business has spent about $35,000 in development of surveys and architectural plans for the brewhouse, according to the suit. Last fall, FSC obtained Design Review approval for the brewhouse and submitted plans to the city. FSC had intended to begin construction of the brewhouse five months ago.

But in December 2015, Jeff Robinson says he received a request that FSC delay construction of the brewhouse so the city could "more easily repair the sewer system.

"This repair was not completed until March 2016. During this same time period, Robinson asked the city to complete the alley, so construction of the brewhouse could begin," says the suit.

Robinson said that, upon completion of the sewer repair, Mayor Kim McMillan called a meeting with the owners of the Franklin Street buildings, and announced that the city did not intend to complete the alley, and that "FSC's offer to complete the alley at its own expense was not accepted.

"Without improved rear access to the Blackhorse, the Robinsons' business operations will be significantly negatively impacted, as well as its fire escape egress," the suit says.

FSC, as a result of being unable to begin construction on the building site, says it has suffered ... a loss of income," totaling about $15,000 per month.

He says the city, in conducting its sewer work, additionally placed its sewer line about two feet onto FSC's building site. As a result, this portion of the building site can't be used as a brewhouse, Robinson contends.

He says the property value of his building site has been diminished by the placement of that sewer line, and that the city is also guilty of breach of contract for not following through with "building and maintaining an alley."

"FSC has suffered from its detrimental reliance upon the city's promise to complete the alley," says the suit.

The Robinsons are also asking for a "court of inquest," to include a jury of five people, to "establish the value of the land taken (from FSC) wrongfully by the city." It asks the court to award the Robinsons additional damages resulting from the actions of the city.

Jeff Robinson told The Leaf-Chronicle he wants the matter to end on a positive note for his business, and for downtown Clarksville.

"If we could work something out — if the City Council could intervene — we'd still like to put a building there (on Second Street). It just wouldn't be the same kind of building that the other one would have been. We're definitely not abandoning the area.

"I still see a bright future for downtown, and I think the civic plaza is going to help the neighborhood," Robinson said.

Reach Business Editor Jimmy Settle at 931-245-0247 and on Twitter @settle_leaf.