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Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today announced that the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Interior has agreed to investigate Sandy Hook Partners' lease agreement to redevelop Fort Hancock.
The announcement comes weeks after the New Jersey congressman requested that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigate the matter. In a July 2nd letter to Earl Devaney, the Inspector General at the Interior Department, Pallone voiced concern that the lease agreement between the National Park Service (NPS) and Sandy Hook Partners (SHP) had once again been extended. He wrote that from his vantage point, the "entire process had been a debacle."
Pallone learned of the investigation today when he received a response letter from Inspector General Devaney, which stated: "In your letter, you questioned Sandy Hook Partners' ability to produce the funds necessary to move forward with the project. The OIG is opening an investigation into your concerns, and we will notify your office of the result."
"I commend the Inspector General for agreeing to conduct an investigation into the Sandy Hook Partners' lease agreement with the National Park Service," Pallone said. "For three years, I have voiced serious concerns about why this agreement was signed when SHP never demonstrated its ability to come up with the necessary funding.
"I hope this investigation will shed some light on why the agreement was signed in the first place, and how SHP now plans to come up with the financing to complete the plan," Pallone continued. "I remain skeptical that it's even possible for SHP to move forward at this point, and hope that this investigation will either confirm those suspicions or show us exactly how SHP is planning to proceed."
Under the terms of the lease, SHP, which is owned by James Wassel, agreed to renovate 36 of Fort Hancock's 100 buildings. The conceptual plans indicated that redevelopment would include the opening of private businesses such as bed and breakfasts and cafes in the renovated buildings. It was this over-commercialization of the Fort that initially led Pallone to oppose the plan.
However, the New Jersey congressman also seriously questioned Wassel's ability to produce the necessary funds to move forward with the three phase project. Those fears have been realized over the last three years as NPS has granted Wassel repeated lease extensions due to SHP's lack of financial resources.
Both the NPS and SHP have used a lawsuit filed by concerned citizens as an excuse for these continued delays, but Pallone seriously questions why this agreement remains in place if Wassel cannot meet any of the promises he made back in 2004.
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