The Fort Worth-based Crescent, the city and Lakewood Church have been wrangling over the 17,000-seat Compaq Center in the Greenway submarket since midyear 2001. Crescent claimed leasing the arena to a church violated deed restrictions set in the early 1970s by the late Kenneth Schnitzer, who donated the site for a municipal sports arena. Under the deed covenant, the property was to be used as an arena for the first 25 years. Designated uses for the next 30 years were arena, offices, library, post office, retail, banks and savings and loan associations.

Crescent has been after the city to buy the CBD acreage for some time, but officials made it clear that they would not close the deal unless the lawsuit was settled. According to the rumor mill, Crescent was "motivated" to settle the lease issue before the first of the year. Crescent realized a net gain of $13 million from the $33-million land sale. The acreage is strategically positioned in the midst of the George R. Brown Convention Center, new convention center hotel, basketball arena and Minute Maid baseball park. Crescent still owns about 18 acres of undeveloped land adjacent to its Houston Center Complex in the CBD.

Randy Pourteau, Houston's senior assistant attorney, tells GlobeSt.com that the main change arising from the settlement is the church's up-front payment of $11 million to the city for the 90-year term. Crescent and the church also came to terms over the shared HVAC system. The original lease required the church to install an independent system.

Lakewood Church is still required to spend $69 million on building improvements. And the city still gets $150,000 of in-kind annual perks, with 10 days of free use of Compaq Center and another 10 days at Lakewood's East Houston campus.

A Crescent press release said there also has been an agreement cut over traffic patterns, exterior architectural elements and signs "so the Lakewood Center will remain compatible with the existing Greenway Plaza development." Event parking to be limited to evenings and weekends under the pact.