MORGANTOWN – A 2024 lawsuit brought by the West Virginia University Board of Governors pertaining to the University Place complex and its financing has reached a “negotiated resolution.”
The West Virginia University Board of Governors announced the settlement Wednesday on behalf of WVU, Ryan Lynch, WV Campus Housing and Downtown Campus Parking Associates.
While the release does not detail the terms of the settlement, it does state that WVU will be assuming “full ownership” and that student residents will see no changes to site operations as a result.
Further, according to the press release, the resolution provides for “dismissal with prejudice of the pending claims and counterclaims between the settling parties, mutual termination of the existing University Place ground lease and related subleases, retirement of the project financing through the agreed transaction, mutual releases, and a transition intended to preserve University Place as an integral part of the WVU student housing inventory.”
University Place and University Park grew from public-private partnership concepts that Lynch presented to WVU beginning in the early 2010s, after he assembled or placed under control some 60 parcels totaling more than 12 acres in strategic locations adjacent to WVU’s Downtown and Evansdale campuses.
University Place opened in 2015 as WVU-managed, on-campus upper-class housing. The University Place parking garage opened later that year.
According to the 2024 lawsuit filed by the WVU Board of Governors at the heart of this settlement, issues began to arise by 2017, at which point the parties came together to restructure the project loan and related agreements. Part of that restructuring included WVU’s agreement to close Arnold Hall and convert approximately 450 beds in University Place’s South Tower from upper-class apartments into the first-year residence hall now known as Seneca Hall.
Despite those efforts, in January 2024 the university’s board of governors filed the aforementioned suit against the parties listed above, and others, claiming that unbeknownst to the university, funds were being improperly transferred into and out of the University Place operating account, and that, “Defendants have actively concealed this fraudulent scheme from WVU.”
The lawsuit included numerous claims including breach of contract, fraud, promissory fraud, tortious interference with contract, conspiracy, aiding and abetting a tort, conversion, and negligence.
In response, a counterclaim was filed against the WVU Board of Governors by WV Campus Housing and Downtown Campus Parking Associates the following month. The nine-count claim accused the university of defamation, fraud, breach of the parking facility agreement, plus six counts spelling out the various ways WVU allegedly breached the joint operating agreement approved by the parties.
Legal counsel for WV Campus Housing and Downtown Campus Parking Associates asserted that WVU’s deficiencies in the operation of University Place “plagued the UPlace project from nearly its inception.”
“WVU has, despite its contractual assurances, failed to operate UPlace consistent with requisite standards, whether intentionally or as the result of operational incompetence or distraction,” the counterclaim states, noting “WVU has never met its obligation and standards for the compilation of the yearly Operating Plan and Budget, as required under the [joint operating agreement].”
According to Wednesday’s joint statement, the settlement is a negotiated resolution of disputed claims and counterclaims. No court adjudicated the merits of either parties’ claims or counterclaims, and no party admits liability or wrongdoing.
Further, the settlement does not amend, terminate, release, impair, or otherwise affect University Park at Evansdale, the University Park agreements, or Lynch’s ownership or economic interests in University Park.
“WVU also recognizes the Lynch family’s longstanding support of the University, including the initial financing, development, and construction of the facility now known as Kendrick Family Ballpark, formerly Monongalia County Ballpark, within University Town Centre,” the release states.
