Arizona tribe votes to manage Skywalk

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- A northwestern Arizona tribe has voted to take over management of the Grand Canyon Skywalk from the Las Vegas developer who built it.

David Jin partnered with the Hualapai Tribe to build the horseshoe-shaped glass bridge that juts out from the Grand Canyon on the reservation. But the two sides have been locked in a contract dispute for the past year over revenue shares and an incomplete visitor center.

The Tribal Council voted Tuesday to declare eminent domain over the management contract and provide $11 million in compensation to Jin. The amount is about one-tenth of what Jin has said is fair market value for his $30 million investment.

Mark Tratos, Jin's attorney, said the tribe terminated the contract to avoid an arbiter's order issued last week to produce financial documents and relevant witnesses by Friday.

"Clearly, this is an effort to sidestep any type of judicial oversight," Tratos said in a statement. "They want all decisions to be made only by tribal judges that they hire, fire and pay; and have resisted all efforts to have an independent judge or arbiter fairly review the facts."

Tratos said the tribe's decision to exercise eminent domain was made despite a 2003 agreement in which the tribe waived its right to declare eminent domain. Disputes would instead be settled through binding arbitration, he said.

The tribe said the action was taken because of Jin's refusal to meet his contractual obligations.

"The Tribe did not ask for this dispute," Hualapai Tribal Councilman Charles Vaughn said in a statement. "But we have made a sincere effort through private negotiations with Mr. Jin, and he still refuses to make the most basic concessions and complete the work he promised. His participation has been unproductive and created countless delays. At this point, there are simply no other options."

The Tribal Council passed an eminent domain ordinance last year that Jin suspected was aimed at him. He went to federal court to try to keep the tribe from severing the Skywalk contract under the ordinance, but the judge said the tribe had not sought to enforce it and told Jin he must first exhaust tribal court remedies.

Jin approached the Hualapai Tribe in 1996 with a plan to build the Skywalk with his own money. The attraction just west of Grand Canyon National Park has about 300,000 visitors a year and is a major tourist draw for the tribe.

The Skywalk extends 70 feet from the canyon rim about 4,000 feet above the Colorado River. It is designed to withstand 100 mph winds and has shock absorbers to keep the walkway from wobbling as people pass over.

Under an agreement with the tribe, Jin is supposed to split revenues with the tribe for 25 years in exchange for his investment.

Jin has said in court documents that he believes the tribe's motivation in passing the ordinance is to avoid the embarrassment of explaining how ticket revenues evaporated under its watch and to keep from paying him what he is owed.

"The taking vote reinforces our belief that the tribe is terrified of having the truth revealed to the public of the mismanagement of its own funds and un­willingness to account for the reasonable or fair value of the highly successful Skywalk operations," Tratos said.

The tribe denied that was the case and reiterated its stance Wednesday that Jin hasn't fulfilled contractual obligations to complete a visitor center that tourists must pass through to access the Skywalk and failed to account for funding.

Tratos said: "Mr. Jin has not received an adequate accounting or distributions for management fees for his operation of the Skywalk" since 2008. He said the vote was "a desperate attempt to avoid paying Mr. Jin the millions of dollars of management fees he is presently owed and break his 25-year management contract."

Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Doug McMurdo contributed to this report.