Cypress Creek mall starts appeal

The developers of Cypress Creek Town Center are appealing a federal judge's decision in August overturning most of a federal permit allowing construction of the planned mall.

Tampa-based Sierra Properties and its partner, Cleveland-based Richard E. Jacobs Group, filed a notice of appeal Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington.

The motion challenges Judge Royce Lamberth's ruling Aug. 20 that the Army Corps of Engineers' permit review process wasn't thorough enough.

Lamberth agreed with the Sierra Club that the corps should have required Sierra Properties and Jacobs to perform an environmental impact statement instead of a less thorough environmental review of the 510-acre site, which straddles State Road 56 just east of Interstate 75.

Lamberth allowed the developers to continue work on the southern extension of County Road 54 into the property, much of which sits atop wetlands filled under the corps' development permit. He also let them keep the project's underground stormwater management system to prevent pollution from reaching Cypress Creek.

A spokesman for the Jacobs Group says in an e-mail that he couldn't talk about the case but that the developers are still committed to the project.

"All I can tell you is that the Jacobs Group's resolve has not diminished, and we will continue to pursue all options that will eventually lead to us finishing what we have started at Cypress Creek Town Center," said Bill Fullington. "Our commitment is as strong as ever."

Jacobs won Pasco County's approval for its Cypress Creek mall in 2004. The project has spent the ensuing years entangled in one lawsuit after another as opponents have tried to stop it.

In the meantime, the recession has cost Jacobs several major tenants. Circuit City and Linens-n-Things both went bankrupt. Target withdrew as the project bogged down with regulatory problems.

Storms in early 2008 forced the corps to suspend Jacobs' development permit. The company spent 18 months tweaking its plans to win the corps' approval again.

While Jacobs has spent the past five years fighting regulators and environmentalists, its major competitors, Forest City Enterprises and Echo Real Estate, have opened successful - and less controversial - malls a few miles from the Cypress Creek site.