Eagle sells its new community center to couple who donated to new mayor’s campaign
The city of Eagle has just sold the community center it bought a year ago to campaign donors for Mayor Jason Pierce.
Those donors, April and Brad Dillon, are investors in the Innovate Academy and Preparatory School, which placed an offer on the property last summer, before the city outbid them and paid $1.15 million for the 1.5-acre property at 175 E. Mission Drive. Brad Dillon is car dealership owner Dennis Dillon’s son.
Pierce has previously said former Mayor Stan Ridgeway’s decision to put in a bid for a property that he knew an Eagle business wanted set “a bad precedent.”
“You set the tone that if you come talk to the city about a project, and if the city feels they can get something better with it, then they’ll go and get it from underneath you,” Pierce said in a February City Council meeting. “Why would you ever want to do business in the city of Eagle?”
The Dillon family, including April and Brad, gave $4,000 to Pierce’s campaign. April Dillon did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Neither did a representative for Innovate Academy.
Under Ridgeway, the city was approached by the Landing’s owners, Ed and Mark Priddy, to buy the property, which included three buildings: two one-story buildings and a former church built in the 1930s. The site sits just across from Eagle Elementary School, an easy walk for schoolchildren going to after-school programs.
Ridgeway and the City Council were interested in using the property for a community center, expanded offices for the city Parks and Recreation Department, and a new, larger space for the city’s history museum, to be located in the former church.
Innovate Academy, a private Christian school that teaches pre-K through 8th grade, had wanted the site for its new school. Innovate Academy is managed by April Dillon, as well as Gloria Nagel, Tessa Osborne and Megan Stephens. Stephens is a daughter of Gary Hawkins, owner of Hawkins Cos., a major Treasure Valley commercial real estate developer.
Through the Hawkins Cos., the school had made an offer on the property for $1.1 million, said David Ferdinand, the real estate agent who handled the deal between the city and the Priddy brothers. The city outbid the school, paying $51,000 more, and when Ferdinand approached the representative from Hawkins, he declined to make a counter-offer.
“It was a normal real estate transaction ... like any other deal,” Ferdinand said by phone Tuesday.
The city spent about $300,000 to renovate and remodel two of the buildings for the new community center and parks offices, which were opened in December, the Statesman previously reported.
During the election, the community center became a subject of controversy. One Pierce supporter, Kevin Zasio, gave information to media outlets alleging that the purchase of Eagle Landing was illegal, because the city took on debt without voter approval. Then, in December — after Ridgeway lost the election to Pierce — the U.S. Department of Justice issued subpoenas asking the city for more information about the purchase of the community center.
The new City Council and mayor hosted several meetings to discuss the future of the Eagle Landing Community Center. The FBI’s investigation overshadowed the discussions, casting doubt over the project. Against the protests of the two council members who served with Ridgeway, Miranda Gold and Kenny Pittman, the council in February voted to put the property up for auction, except for the church, which they plan to move near City Hall.
On Tuesday, April and Brad Dillon were the only bidders for the property. They paid $1.65 million.
Pierce told the Statesman in February that three parties had expressed interest in the property since he took office. He said he did not know who they are, because he was approached by “middlemen.”
Neither Pierce nor his spokeswoman immediately responded Tuesday to requests for comment.
On the phone, Ridgeway sounded disappointed about the sale.
“There’s nothing I can do about it,” he said. “What’s done is done.”
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
