Spooky Nook also claims Coon failed to provide information necessary for the company’s determination on PCS’ qualifications as a general contractor.
After a recommendation to meet, Coon became involved in helping Spooky Nook with its state historic tax credit application process for the hotel portion of the project. Eventually, Spooky Nook, with Coon’s help, obtained $4.7 million in state historic tax credits in 2018. During that process, Spooky Nook officials said they followed many of Coon’s recommendations and, according to its lawsuit, Coon had “became the public face” for its historic tax credit application.
Coon’s team of attorneys, led by Laura Mills, of Canton, claimed in its Nov. 26 response Spooky Nook’s fraudulent concealment allegation does not meet legal requirements, and Coon’s responsibility to disclose a prior relationship with PCS “is either absent or limited.”
“A fiduciary duty is one of a person in an undertaking to act primarily for the benefit of another in matters associated with it forming from a special confidence and special trust,” according to Coon’s attorneys.
Spooky Nook claimed in October that Coon, who had acquired historic state tax credits on other Hamilton and Middletown projects, had knowledge of its finances when assisting with the tax credit application, but Mills said Coon “assisted” with the historic tax credits, and having information about Spooky Nook’s tax credit information does not create a “clear nexus” to go from “an ordinary business relationship into one of special confidence and special trust.”
Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill is the $165 million redevelopment of two buildings that made up the former Champion Mill 1.2 million-plus-square-foot plant, which are on either side of North B Street along the Great Miami River. Hamilton city leaders and officials courted the Manheim, Pennsylvania-based Spooky Nook after seeing the facility attract thousands of visitors for each event to the small borough.
The redevelopment in Hamilton broke ground in October 2018, but delays plagued the project from supply chain delays because of the COVID-19 pandemic to a March 2021 windstorm that knocked down a structure known as Building 500. But by the spring 2022, Spooky Nook began opening pieces of the mega-complex, first with the conference center in May 2022 followed by parts of the Warehouse Hotel.
Though a mechanic’s lien had been briefly levied against Spooky Nook in July 2022, and lifted a few weeks later, the sports and events side opened in earnest in December 2022 and January 2023.
By February 2023, Spooky Nook was sued by its general contractor, and the collapse of Building 500 was at the heart of that litigation. PCS claimed it was owed more than $11.9 million in damages, which Spooky Nook said it was an attempt to seek payment for incomplete work.
General contractor PCS &build sued the sports complex in Butler County Common Pleas Court, which was the start of what eventually was declared complex litigation. Additional lawsuits and countersuits involved a plethora of parties from insurance companies and subcontractors (who also filed claims). These initial filings have been combined into one case, now scheduled for a Sept. 8 jury trial before Judge Keith Spaeth.
In early October 2023, in Stark County, Coon sued PCS &build for alleged fraud and breach of contract, which documents in the northeastern Ohio County show a pretrial conference on Dec. 17 and a jury trial on Jan. 27. Now a year after that lawsuit, Spooky Nook is seeking compensation from Coon, and this case has been set for a jury trial in 10 months.
Mills argues that the lawsuit against her client should be dismissed because it lacks merit. There were two LLCs created by Spooky Nook that Coon became involved with, but court documents state he was divested by October 2019 of one and January 2020 of the other.
Spooky Nook has claimed Coon should have informed officials of his relationship with PCS, including previous financial support of $1.5 million, as it would have affected their decision on whether to hire &build as the project’s general contractor. Spooky Nook claims &build could only obtain a performance bond and payment because of Coon’s investment.
But Coon’s attorney said he was never an owner of PCS nor was he involved with the company’s business, and all of that was prior to Spooky Nook’s involvement. Additionally, Coon “was not in a position to share any financial information with (Spooky Nook).”
“(Spooky Nook) brought this case 18 months after the hotel litigation (in 2023) and appear to do so to harass Mr. Coon who has assisted in paying subcontractors involved in (the) Spooky Nook litigation,” Mills wrote.
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