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    Dueling Developers: Second Group Claims that Planet Oasis Still Happening

    Two different development groups continue to argue over who is moving forward with the sports and entertainment complex proposed for a large tract of undeveloped land near the Tanger Outlet Mall in Delaware County.

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    Last week, Blue Horseshoe Ventures and Tony Sekulovski announced that the project was being renamed – from Planet Oasis to Arcadia – and that a new design for the large development would be released soon. Also promised was a start to construction as soon as the summer of 2019.

    That news was met with a strong rebuke from Blue Horseshoe Development, the David Glimcher-led company that split from Sekulovski in October and has claimed all along to be the true developer of the project.

    Lenni Male, Principal/President of Blue Horseshoe Development, provided the following statement to CU:

    Planet Oasis HAS NOT been renamed. We exclusively own the Planet Oasis name and trademark; thus, no one has the ability to “rename” our project. Our team is moving forward as we always have. Major announcements coming soon. David Glimcher has been a developer for 30 years and has developed approximately 80 projects and 25 million square feet over the years. The Planet Oasis project has been his vision for 20 years, and is now coming to fruition. What was announced is from a disgruntled ex-partner trying to now compete with us, although he has never developed anything.

    Blue Horseshoe Development also put out a press release this morning with more details on its plans for the project and additional information about the ongoing legal dispute between the two parties.

    The new release states that “Planet Oasis, Planet Oasis Ohio, Lenni Male and David Glimcher have retained a major legal team that is currently pursuing and will continue to pursue and execute all required legal actions….to the fullest extent of the law for fraud, and massive tortious interference to the Planet Oasis project.”

    The release also claims that a series of meetings with officials from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Delaware County have taken place over the course of the last five weeks that have resulted in “significant progress” being made in moving the project forward.

    Breanna Badanes of ODOT’s Public Information Office confirmed that David Glimcher and others from his team met with ODOT on October 31 “to go over the draft MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) and discuss the scope of the necessary traffic study,” and that ODOT did later receive a draft of that document that is currently being reviewed.

    Badness said that ODOT also has a meeting scheduled with the Arcadia team to discuss a draft MOU.

    “ODOT’s only involvement is to ensure that whomever develops the land goes through the proper steps as far as traffic is concerned,” she added. “Ultimately, the developer will need an approved MOU before proceeding.”

    So, six months after the first ambitious plans for Planet Oasis were released, it appears that many of questions raised by residents and local officials when the two competing factions split in October remain unanswered.

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    Brent Warren
    Brent Warrenhttps://columbusunderground.com/author/brent-warren
    Brent Warren is a staff reporter for Columbus Underground covering urban development, transportation, city planning, neighborhoods, and other related topics. He grew up in Grandview Heights, lives in the University District and studied City and Regional Planning at OSU.
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