By ADAM BEAM and JEFF WILKINSON (The State) - abeam@thestate.com jwilkinson@thestate.com
Columbia City Council challenger Cameron Runyan is accusing incumbent Daniel Rickenmann of profiting from a controversial Five Points project that could include $6 million in city-funded public parking.
An attorney for the State Ethics Commission said there is no violation, and Rickenmann dismissed the charge as eleventh-hour political grandstanding.
The election is Tuesday.
At issue is a project known as Five Points South, a six-story condo, retail and public parking development planned for Saluda Avenue in Five Points where Kenny's Auto Supply store used to be.
City Council members voted in February 2007 to join Five Points South by building a public parking garage as part of the project. A final vote on the deal has not been taken.
After that, developers Ron Swinson and Stan Harpe bought the property from Kenneth Hooks for $3.3 million, a record price for Five Points.
Hooks, in order to get around costly capital gains taxes, needed to buy property or properties of similar value so he could do what is known as a tax-deferred exchange, his attorney Michael Tighe said.
Hooks had 45 days to identify the properties or pay the tax, Tighe said.
One of the properties Hooks' broker identified was the Birds on a Wire building on Devine Street, which Rickenmann owned.
In June, Hooks purchased the building for $1.95 million; records indicate Rickenmann bought the property for $1.45 million.
Bill Owen, Rickenmann's business partner, said the partners made a profit of less than $500,000.
Rickenmann runs the partners' restaurants while Owen handles the real estate deals.
"Daniel really doesn't have anything to do with it," Owen said of the deal with Hooks. "This is clearly last-minute mudslinging."
Runyan said Rickenmann should not have voted on the project to "prevent the appearance of any impropriety" and should recuse himself from voting on Five Points South issues in the f
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