Sides in $300 million land deal head to arbitration
Palm Beach Aggregates' $300 million deal to sell 1,210 acres west of the village to Lennar Homes could be in trouble. And one of the key individuals who made the deal possible - convicted former County Commissioner Tony Masilotti - might have to testify in the dispute. Neither mega-home builder Lennar Homes nor rock mining operator Palm Beach Aggregates would comment about the matter. But both have a pending case set to go before an arbitration board, a process that is more expedient and secretive than a civil court proceeding.

Sides in $300 million land deal head to arbitration
By Dwayne Robinson
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 13, 2007

Palm Beach Aggregates' claims against the home builder are unclear. Lennar Homes, however, is seeking reams of paper in its defense relating to the series of once-secret land deals that netted the former commissioner and his brother, Paul Masilotti, a $7.7 million land parcel in Brevard County from Palm Beach Aggregates.

One of the eight individuals or entities to receive Lennar Homes' subpoenas was the village of Wellington, which once attempted to annex the disputed land and employed Paul Masilotti as a building inspector, according to village records.

"We're not a party to whatever is going on, so we're not aware what it's about," Village Manager Charlie Lynn said Wednesday. "We will comply with whatever we're requested to do."

On Tuesday, Lennar Homes requested Paul Masilotti's personnel file and any documents regarding his employment with the village. Masilotti resigned from the village in November, just as his bosses were preparing to fire him for not disclosing his financial ties to the Aggregates deal and other conflicts of interest.

On Wednesday, Palm Beach Aggregates sent a letter to the village, along with others who had received the subpoenas, urging them not to comply with Lennar Homes' request.

"The subpoenas for deposition ... are improper and premature," wrote Louis Mrachek, an attorney for the company, citing arbitration procedures.

The subpoenas also sought information from the following individuals:

• Lawyer-lobbyist William R. Boose III, who was charged in November with helping Tony Masilotti hide his profit from a government land deal in Martin County.

The single charge against him was part of a plea agreement that fell apart. The charge was withdrawn in January after Boose pleaded not guilty. The government is expected to file a new case against Boose and is likely to take him to trial on tougher charges.

• The representative of West Palm Beach law firm Casey Ciklin Lubitz Martens & O'Connell with the most knowledge of the ARM Family Trust, a Paul and Tony Masilotti entity that acted as an intermediary in the Aggregates deal.

• Palm Beach Aggregates attorney John B. McCracken, who registered Micco Eastern in 2004 and later became its manager. The company purchased 305 acres in Brevard County for $7.7 million.

• Royal Palm Beach attorney Robert A. D'Angio Jr., who later became the manager of Micco Eastern. D'Angio also was the private attorney of Paul Masilotti.

• Paul Masilotti, who paid the taxes on the Brevard County property last year.

• Tony Masilotti, who pushed for the rezoning of the Palm Beach Aggregates property to allow the construction of 2,000 homes, thus increasing the value of the property without disclosing his financial ties to the project. He pleaded guilty in January to a single crime, honest services fraud.

The connection between the Masilotti deals and the Palm Beach Aggregates-Lennar Homes dispute was unclear Wednesday.

Boca Raton attorney Steven D. Rubin, the real-estate law committee chairman for the Palm Beach County Bar Association, said behind-the-scenes land transactions could be a justification for the home builder to modify or abandon its contract if, for instance, it was unaware of the secret deals.

"That's a cause of action through either negligent misrepresentation or intentional misrepresentation, and intentional misrepresentation - another word for that is fraud," Rubin said.

But problems with the deal could predate the Masilotti revelations late last year.

"It was my understanding that deal was in trouble as far back as Scripps moving away from the Mecca site," said Wellington Community Services Director Paul Schofield, whose department oversees annexation.

In January 2006, Lennar Homes announced it was backing out of deal to buy 4,700 acres west of Palm Beach Gardens near the county's first choice for the home of The Scripps Research Institute at the Mecca Farms site. A federal judge had ruled unfavorably on the Mecca site months earlier, citing a need for more environmental analysis, which initiated plans to relocate the biotechnology giant elsewhere.

Also in January 2006, the home builder filed an appeal against Jupiter, after the town blocked the national home builder from nearly tripling the size of its upscale Jupiter Isles development.

"They had a whole lot of bad things going bad at the same time," Schofield said.
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