HUNTINGTON -- The Tri-State Transit Authority's Board of Directors unanimously voted on Wednesday to allow a representative to renegotiate its lease with Metropolitan Partners for Pullman Square facilities in Huntington.

The renegotiation comes after Metropolitan Partners had only been able to pay half of the $450,000 annual lease for several years, said TTA General Manager Paul Davis. In May, the board voted to allow Metropolitan Partners to delay half of its monthly lease payments to TTA until January 2010.

As part of the agreement, Metropolitan Partners will pay back the $225,000 in deferred rent over the remaining 25 years of its lease with its public partner.

Davis would not discuss specific strategy but said he hopes to start renegotiations immediately.

"The board would never do anything to cause harm to downtown development," Davis said. "We want the downtown and Pullman Square to continue to prosper."

Metropolitan Partners and TTA share ownership of Pullman Square. TTA owns the two parking garages, movie theater, streets, sidewalks and public commons areas. Before the $60 million retail and entertainment complex opened in November 2004, both parties agreed that TTA would lease its portion to Metropolitan Partners for $450,000 a year.

Since then, legal fees from lawsuits involving former tenants have put Metropolitan Partners in a cash-flow crunch, said Bill Dargusch, co-owner of the development company. Contractors filed separate lawsuits in 2006 against the former owners of Pizzeria Uno and Moe's Southwest Grille. Both lawsuits alleged the restaurants had not paid their bills for construction work. Metropolitan Partners was named as a defendant in each lawsuit.

Dargusch said progress has been made to settle the lawsuits, and he hopes to meet with Davis immediately. Dargusch said he hopes the lease amount will stay around $225,000.

"We're going to look at things we can do to do our jobs and be fine and things that allow (TTA) to do their jobs and be fine," Dargusch said.

Unfortunately, lowering the lease amount will mean the free downtown Huntington shuttle will be charging in the future. Davis said the $225,000 lease payment currently funds the free shuttle but nothing else.

When the lease was $450,000, Davis said half would fund the shuttle and another amount would be set aside in a reserve. The reserve amount would go toward replacing or fixing downed buses. Since the lease has been halved, Davis said the TTA has been unable to put money into the reserve account.

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