Bowles loses condo battle

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By Ann McGlynn | Friday, June 27, 2008 |

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Precision Builders v. Cypress Point

The builder on a much-litigated condominium development in Davenport won a breach-of-contract battle in Scott County District Court this week against the property’s outspoken owner and her company.

Precision Builders is owed $204,359 plus interest for unpaid work, attorneys fees and damages by Cypress Point Builders and its owner, Niky Bowles, Scott County District Court Judge Gary McKenrick ruled.

Specifically, Bowles and Cypress Point must pay $69,359.19 for unpaid work, $75,000 for Precision’s attorney fees and $60,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

“… many of the problems in this construction project were the fault of Cypress Point, Niky Bowles, and the architect employed by Cypress Point,” McKenrick wrote in the 16-page ruling.

McKenrick wrote that Bowles “demonstrated a flippant and arrogant attitude both during her own testimony and during the testimony of other witnesses.” He recounted examples of what he termed “deceptions and lies” from Bowles during the trial.

And in awarding damages, McKenrick wrote that Bowles wanted to be her own general contractor “from the beginning.” Precision “tried mightily” to accommodate Bowles, but the accommodations of her “demands and interference” were met with increasing demands.

Precision Builders sued Cypress Point in June 2005 after it said Bowles took over supervision and direction of the work on the $1.3 million contract signed in October 2004. The lawsuit also states that Cypress Point and Bowles forbade communication between Precision Builders and the architect, Joseph Gusse, and ordered that subcontracts be canceled.

Bowles, the lawsuit states, hired security guards, threatened to remove the builders, brought in police officers and stationed herself in front of the building site.

Cypress Point disagreed with what was said in the lawsuit, saying the contract was terminated and problems were found with the work Precision Builders had completed.

Candy Pasternak, attorney for Precision, declined comment on the ruling. John Doak, attorney for Cypress Point, could not be reached for comment.

The condominium project, known for its elaborate statues and gated entrance, spawned several lawsuits from subcontractors. Most were victorious as well.

Separately, the property has a lengthy history of lawsuits.

The land was owned by Eastern Avenue Partners, a venture that included developer Rob Fick and Thomas and Niky Bowles.

Fick sued the Bowleses, doing business as Micole, to break the partnership. The Bowleses were given “sole and exclusive” authority by a Scott County judge to rezone, sell and make other decisions about the property.

A fight to rezone the property from agricultural to a commercial use ensued.

In July 2000, Niky Bowles said then-Alderman Bob McGivern called her a crazy woman. McGivern corrected her and said he had called her “a freaking crazy woman.”

McGivern and two other elected officials were defendants in a Bowles lawsuit for slander, which was later dismissed.

In August 2000, Bowles moved pigs onto the property in protest of the city’s zoning refusal. She filed a lawsuit against the city to get the land rezoned. The city won dismissal of the lawsuit.

The council rezoned the land from agricultural to a neighborhood shopping district in March 2003 as the area continued to change.

Seven months later, Bowles announced plans for a $17 million gated development on the property. The plan called for 168 townhouses in 14 buildings, priced under $90,000.

The development, she said, would include a walking path, courtyards, a golf putting and chipping green, a clubhouse, a dog run and a place for residents to wash their cars.

“It will be open to everyone, regardless of their budget,” she said.

The project, she said, would employ 300 workers during the four to five years in which it would be built. The first and only building went up in 2005.

The first condo sold in November 2005 for $219,770, according to county records. The second sold in July 2006 for $186,700; the third sold in August 2006 for $195,555, and the fourth sold in April 2007 for $198,401.

Ann McGlynn can be contacted at (563) 383-2336 or amcglynn@qctimes.com.