DEKALB COUNTY: Project group settles claim

The developers of a long-planned amusement park in south DeKalb County have reached a settlement with a contractor who wanted to throw the project back into bankruptcy court.

Atlanta-based RACT Enterprises Inc., a construction company that helped prepare the site for the project near Lithonia, sued Top Flight Development Group, developer of Grand Empire amusement park and hotel conference center. The construction company said Top Flight owed it more than $4 million and asked a federal judge to reopen a 2006 bankruptcy case against the firm.

David Miller, attorney for Top Flight, said RACT’s claim has been settled for $3 million, ending all current litigation between the parties. RACT’s attorney, Jerry L. Sims, confirmed those details, but declined to discuss the agreement further.

Atlanta-based Top Flight first filed for bankruptcy in 2006 after defaulting on a $6.3 million loan to buy the property for the proposed project. The bankruptcy case was closed the following year.

RACT’s request to reopen the bankruptcy came one year after Top Flight hit what seemed to be a turning point in the Grand Empire (formally called Fun World) project.

Company officials held a meeting with community residents on Sept. 11, 2007, to announce that their megaproject, first announced in 2005, was finally coming to fruition.

Top Flight announced that its money woes were over and that ground would be broken in summer ‘08 for the Grand Empire Palace and Resort.

In addition to an indoor water and amusement park, plans call for the Grand Empire to include a 6,500-seat performing arts center, two full-service hotels, a restaurant and club district, a “high-end” retail center and luxury condos on more than 36 acres on Hillandale Drive. The price tag: more than $675 million.

Yet, beyond some grading work, there’s been little sign of real construction at the site.

Miller said the project is still moving forward, with potential backing from several large national and international firms.

“We are working on a project that will result in 2,500 new jobs for DeKalb County and millions in tax revenue and other benefits to the citizens of the county at no charge to the county or any taxpayers,” Miller wrote in an e-mail.