Saratoga News

Hunter, Storm file lawsuit over Argonaut Center ownership rights

Suit claims Rodoni, Hulme are simply silent partners

Renovation delays possible

By Sarah Lombardo

Renovation plans at the Argonaut Shopping Center on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road have hit a snag. Cupertino developers Deke Hunter and Ed Storm have filed a lawsuit against Carole Rodoni and Paul Hulme, who identify themselves as sole owners of the center. The suit was filed July 14 in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

Hunter and Storm charge Rodoni and Hulme with overstepping their bounds and violating a contract, causing expensive delays in the project.

Rodoni and Hulme deny the charge, claiming Hunter and Storm have violated the contract not only by failing to accomplish leasing projects on time as specified by the contract, but also by filing the lawsuit.

James Niven, an attorney representing Rodoni and Hulme, said the contract between Argonaut Associates LLC and Hunter and Storm provided that disputes between Rodoni and Hulme be worked out in arbitration, not in a courthouse.

"We've been disagreeing for a while," Niven said. "We've had several discussions on it, but I didn't expect them to file a lawsuit."

In their suit, Hunter and Storm contend that they acquired the center last year and brought in Rodoni and Hulme--also CEO and owner, respectively, of Alain Pinel Realtors in Saratoga--as equity partners. The suit maintains that all four then proceded to purchase Argonaut Shopping Center. Hunter and Storm further claim they were to have authority over renovation and leasing matters and Rodoni and Hulme were "silent partners," who then took over management of the project and caused expensive delays. One such delay was caused, they claim, by Rodoni and Hulme allegedly "unilaterally terminating" an architect for the project last year.

Niven said the claims are simply incorrect. According to Niven, Hunter and Storm own only a minuscule percent of the center and are not in any way equal partners. "Basically, Hunter and Storm were hired by [Rodoni and Hulme], who put up all the money, to do what Hunter and Storm do, which is develop the shopping center."

Regarding the architect, Niven said he had never been hired in the first place because the contract stated that Rodoni and Hulme had final approval. "He simply wasn't approved. He wasn't 'unilaterally terminated.' He just wasn't approved."

Storm declined to comment on the litigation. "I really don't want to comment right now while we still have the lawsuit going on," he said.

Hunter and Storm's attorney, Thomas Makris, was unavailable for comment.

The issue of the lawsuit leaves unanswered the question of when the center, built in the early '60s, will finally be renovated.

Construction was scheduled to begin in the spring. The Saratoga Planning Commission approved the project in February after sending designs for the project back to the architect several times for changes relating to color scheme and materials used. The project involves renovating all the storefronts, relandscaping the parking lot, expanding the 30,070-square-foot Safeway Store by 10,720 square feet and building two new free-standing buildings on both corners of Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road and Blauer Drive.

Storm said he still hopes to begin work sometime in mid-August and said once construction begins, the project should only take about seven months.

"We're not sure of an exact date," he said. "We've got some bids out right now."

Niven, Rodoni and Hulme are also hopeful.

"There has become a disagreement between the developer and the owners and that's probably not going to slow this thing down much, but it's something that we have to sort out," Niven said. "Nobody has walked away from that center saying it's just going to stay the way it is for the next five years, because it's just on the threshold of being renewed. This is just a blip."

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