Jul 22, 2006 1:54 am US/Pacific
Conflict Of Interest Tied To 49ers Stadium Plan?
CBS 5 Eyewitness News Exclusive
by Lisa Chan
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
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View from Chopper 5 of land at Candlestick Point, with Monster Park seen on left.
CBS 5
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An empty, 5-acre lot adjacent to Monster Park was purchased for more than $5 million.
CBS 5
A land deal near Monster Park is being questioned after CBS 5 learned of a potential conflict of interest that could allow a politically connected company to profit from the San Francisco 49ers' proposed new stadium project.
The land surrounding Monster Park might not look like much now, but this week, the 49ers revealed new details of their plan to build an $800 million stadium and redevelopment project adjacent to the stadium, which will include housing, retail, and office space.
And it looks like real estate around the park is already getting hot.
CBS 5 has learned that an empty, 5-acre lot adjacent to the park was just purchased for more than $5 million, which could net a huge profit according to several realtors.
If the plan goes though, the area will become more like a community, and land prices will skyrocket, said Liz Sosnick of TRI Coldwell Banker.
San Francisco-based Carroll Avenue Properties made the land purchase shortly after it was founded in May. The company took out two loans to purchase the property in June -- a month before the 49ers' big announcement.
The deal also may have a political tie. Named on the corporation documents is Jaynry Mak, who worked as an aide to Supervisor Fiona Ma for four years and is now running for supervisor herself.
CBS 5 took the documents to Mak.
"I am just the agent for service," said Mak, referring to the title given to someone who is basically a company's contact person. "I just get their mail. I hand it over to them."
But CBS 5 political analyst Joe Tuman says that while there is no evidence that any inside information was passed on, the timing of the transaction is problematic.
"Even if this is someone that just served as the agent of record, at the time of that, she was a city employee and worked in a supervisor's office," Tuman said.
Right now there's nothing to suggest confidential information was used in the purchase of the property, but if Mak had passed on confidential information to someone's benefit, she would have violated the city's rules on ethics.
Those rules pertain to city employees and their conduct outside the office, according to Mabel Ng with the San Francisco Ethics Commission.
"You're not allowed to use confidential information to benefit yourself or anyone else," Ng said.
The principal partner for Carroll Avenue Properties is Eric Chung, a friend of Mak's who has donated the $500 maximum to Mak's campaign, according to Mak.
CBS 5: "Do you stand to profit directly or indirectly from the acquisition of this property that Carroll Properties just bought?"
Mak: "Not that I know of. I am their agent of service."
If Mak does get elected, she would be on the Board of Supervisors, and the 49ers may need the supervisors' approval to get the stadium built.
"When it comes up, I would deal with it at that time, but I don't see a conflict right now," she said.
CBS 5 attempted to reach Ma for comment, but she was out of the office Friday and did not return calls.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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