Appraiser, law firm in land deals linked

The appraisals helped the developers get top dollar for the land, which county officials say will be used for parks.

The 2007 Gwinnett land deals soon will be the subject of a special grand jury.

Several years before the Gwinnett appraisals were conducted, Foster entered into a business partnership with attorney Steven Pickens, buying two properties with him in Lawrenceville, property records show. Foster and Pickens, who still own a rental property together, also consider each other friends.

Pickens’ law firm, Mahaffey Pickens Tucker, represented three prominent developers who sold land to the county in transactions involving the appraisals, county records show.

Records show the law firm was deeply involved in the talks with the county about the proposed parkland. Pickens personally negotiated the price in one of the county deals, according to e-mails between Pickens and a county official, obtained by the AJC.

In Gwinnett, appraisals are a central focus in negotiations, often influencing the sale price or serving as the maximum amount the county will pay.

Four Georgia appraisers, three of whom are current or former members of the state board that regulates appraisers, said Foster’s actions might have violated the regulation that prohibits appraisers from having a “personal interest or bias with respect to the parties involved” in property they appraise.

Appraiser Scott Murphy, a member of the Georgia Real Estate Appraisers Board, which investigates complaints against appraisers, said he believes that Foster’s relationship with Pickens violated the regulation.

“I think he should have recused himself from the appraisal assignments,” said Murphy, who has served on the appraisers board since 2004. “I think he’s biased here because of his relationship with [the attorney] and that’s why he needs to recuse himself.”

The current chairman of the appraisers board, Charles Bramlett of Jasper County, said that Foster’s ties to Pickens might have violated the regulation, but added that the rule isn’t clear cut.

“I would think that you’re getting close to having a relationship there,” he said. “If it was me, I would not be doing an appraisal like that.”

In a phone interview, Foster said he did nothing wrong. He said he does not believe his connection to Pickens created a conflict of interest.

“What [Murphy’s] suggesting is quite a stretch to try to relate property I own with an attorney to an appraisal that I’ve done,” Foster said. “ But I can see his perspective on this. I don’t agree with it. But I can see how he’s looking at it.”

Foster added that he only knew Pickens’ law firm was involved in one of the deals.

Pickens also disputed that Foster had a conflict. Both men said they didn’t see the law firm as a significant player in the parkland purchases and believe that only the buyer and seller could be viewed as involved parties.

Five appraisers interviewed by the AJC, however, disagreed that “parties” include only the buyer and seller.

“It goes way beyond that,” said Gary Bernes, a Marietta appraiser and former member of the state appraisers board.

The executive officer of the state appraisers board, Jeff Ledford, said he could not comment on Foster’s actions because the matter could come before the board. The appraisers board can initiate investigations on its own or when it receives complaints from the public and referrals from other agencies, Ledford said.

If the board determines Foster broke the regulation, he could face penalties ranging from a reprimand to the loss of his certification to appraise land in Georgia, Ledford said.

Joint investment

Foster and Pickens said they met when Foster was testifying in land condemnation court cases about 15 years ago.

In 2004, Pickens asked Foster to take a look at a duplex on Chestnut Street in Lawrenceville and tell him whether he thought it was a good deal.

Foster did and offered to go in on the investment with him, they said.

“I just figured it would be a good investment,” Foster said. “I’m an appraiser. I can analyze property.”

That September, the two bought the property for $185,000 using the name of a limited liability corporation, Chestnut Towers, property records show. The men still own the property and rent it out, Pickens said.

In December 2005, using the same corporation, they bought a burned-down home on a piece of property for $140,000 on Culver Street, according to property records.

After rebuilding the home and converting it to a law office, Foster and Pickens sold the property for $380,000 on April 18, 2007, records show.

Pickens also has worked as Foster’s attorney. About a decade ago, Foster hired Pickens to represent him in a case involving a tenant who had lease-purchased a property Foster owned, they said.

Foster has been appraising land for more than 30 years.

He said he never second-guessed his decision to do business with an attorney whose firm represents most of Gwinnett County’s biggest developers.

Their business relationship, however, raises questions about their roles in the three Gwinnett County parkland purchases, which have drawn the attention of Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter.

The AJC reported in August on four occasions in which the county government bought land for parks from politically connected developers at inflated prices and based on questionable appraisals.

Three of those deals involved the land that Foster appraised. The developers who owned the land, Wayne Mason, David Bowen and David Jenkins, were represented by Pickens’ law firm.

Murphy and another appraiser who reviewed the appraisals say that Foster’s methods inflated the values by either using zoning designations for the land that had already been rejected by the county or by swapping a less valuable zoning designation for a more valuable one.

After the AJC’s article was published, Porter asked for — and was granted — a special purpose grand jury to investigate the land deals.

Foster won’t discuss the appraisals he did for the three county parkland purchases.

But he and Pickens both said they do not consider the law firm to be a party in the transactions.

Pickens also said no conflict existed because his law firm didn’t hire Foster for any of the appraisals. In two of the county parkland purchases, Foster was hired by the county. In the third, he was hired by the developer.

In the one deal where Foster wasn’t hired by the government, Pickens said it was his client, the development team of Bowen and his two brothers-in-law, who hired and paid Foster.

“I don’t see that as a conflict,” Pickens said. “I think that’s ridiculous.”

Murphy disagreed.

“It doesn’t change the conflict of interest,” he said. “The attorney is still involved in the transaction so the conflict still exists, regardless of who hires [Foster].”