There's finally a glimmer of hope that a resolution may be coming in the drawn-out legal battle over ownership of the former Holmes Foundry property.
BlackburnNews.com has learned that the Chippewas of the Thames, John D'Andrea, and the D'Andrea group have reached an out-of-court agreement, negating the need for a trial in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
However, the First Nation's administrator says the parties have signed a confidentiality agreement and no details will be released until the deal is approved by the court.
Point Edward Chief Administrative Officer Jim Burns says something is obviously going on.
"I believe the property is being marketed because I received over the last six weeks or so about five or six calls," says Burns. "They're from different parties, a lawyer, or a real estate agent or a planning company, asking for information about the property such as what services are there, what the zoning is, that type of thing. We're anxious to hear what's going on. We've talked to them, but they can't tell us. They say the settlement is confidential and it has to be finalized through the courts and when that's done we'll know who the owner is and what's going on."
Chrysler closed the former engine block manufacturing site in 1988 and spent $7-million cleaning up the land before selling it in 1989 to the D'Andrea Group, comprised of real estate developer John D'Andrea and a group of about 20 relatives and friends.
Ten years later, the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation purchased the property from D'Andrea, hoping to build a casino there.
In 2002, D'Andrea was convicted of fraud in connection with that sale and the D'Andrea Group's shareholders began civil action to recover his 50% share in the numbered company that now owns the site.
The 17-acre property has sat empty now for 28 years.
