Wilmington Ballpark Coalition UPDATE: Resignation

Tomorrow at 10am, the Wilmington Ballpark Coalition crowd will be at a press conference in front of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce (which hasn’t advocated for fewer regulations or taxes in recent memory) along with the folks from the Atlanta Braves.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — One of the newly appointed leaders of a group of local business owners and managers promoting a new ballpark in Wilmington is currently being sued by the federal government.

Dr. James D. Hundley, a former orthopaedic surgeon in Wilmington, was named Vice Chairman of the Wilmington Ballpark Coalition. His son, Jim Hundley Jr., is Chairman of the group.

Hundley Sr. also sat on the board of directors of Cooperative Bank, which went under in 2009.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporative is suing Hundley, the rest of the board, as well as the bank’s former chief for “neglect of duty.”

The suit charges that the bank permitted “lax loan approval.”

The FDIC is suing Hundley individually for $4.48 million.

FYI, the Wilmington Ballpark Coalition are the folks that want the taxpayers, not the private sector, to pony up the money for the stadium.  While this is more distraction that detrimental to the group’s aim, it is embarrassing to have this leader wanting taxpayers to fund this project.  $4 million would cover roughly 10% of the estimated cost of the ballpark.

UPDATE:

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — We told you yesterday about a new group supporting the City of Wilmington in its plans to bring a ballpark to town. Today, the vice chair of the Wilmington Ballpark Coalition resigned after WWAY started asking questions about his involvement.

James Hundley Sr. was the vice chair of the Wilmington Ballpark Coalition. He also sat on the Board of Directors of Cooperative Bank, which went under in 2009.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is suing Hundley, the rest of the board, as well as the bank’s former chief for “neglect of duty” and a total of $33 million, including $4.48 million from Hundley.

The WBC announced today that Hundley is not guilty of the actions he is accused of, but to avoid any distraction he will quit the volunteer group.

Rich Neumann of Mandalay Baseball Properties, which wants to run a team here, was in town today. He said he did not know about the lawsuit or if this affected the coalition’s credibility. He says the group will continue to grow once information is released.

“Once all the information is out there, once all the facts are out there as opposed to opinions or hearsay, rumor, people can make a very educated assessment if it’s a good deal or not a good deal for the City of Wilmington,” Neumann said.

Neumann says his company always faces opposition when proposing ballparks in communities, but he says the Wilmington opposition is louder than they are used to.