{"id":2185091,"date":"2025-12-03T05:55:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T05:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2185091"},"modified":"2025-12-03T05:55:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T05:55:11","slug":"lawsuit-filed-after-sunland-park-halts-planned-entertainment-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/lawsuit-filed-after-sunland-park-halts-planned-entertainment-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit filed after Sunland Park halts planned entertainment project"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sunland Park officials and business owners are facing a lawsuit after backing out of a deal with Independent Nation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Independent Nation, the group behind a planned entertainment complex, has filed a lawsuit against Sunland Park officials and business leaders after the city’s “abrupt reversal of approvals” for the complex<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were excited to be able to answer the city\u2019s call to build something amazing, it was a passion project for us,\u201d said David Bingham, principal at Independent Nation LLC, in a news release on Tuesday, Dec. 2. \u201cSide by side with the city, we were encouraged at every step through approvals and design reviews, all of which required major investment on our part.\u201d<\/p>\n

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When dispensaries first began opening in Sunland Park, local leaders called for the cannabis market to be more than just a sales operation. To that end, the city established an entertainment corridor to attract new operations.<\/p>\n\n

The complex, set to be anchored by Sports Illustrated Clubhouse, was set to include an indoor-outdoor event space, retail operations and local vendor markets. Additionally, it was expected to create hundreds of jobs and millions in new tax revenue, according to the news release.<\/p>\n\n

It was projected to open in the first half of 2025, reported by the El Paso Times<\/em> in 2023<\/a>, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held on Oct. 11, 2023.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

More: <\/strong>New Mexico marijuana sales on track to top $2 billion before year\u2019s end<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The company worked alongside the city to get the operation up and running and even held a groundbreaking ceremony. But then plans derailed.<\/p>\n\n

“Despite this momentum, the project began facing resistance after misleading claims circulatedin various media outlets suggesting elements of the project were inconsistent with city zoningand intent,” the Independent Nation news release stated. “Although these claims were later proven false, the confusion fueled community opposition and delayed what had once been a unified effort to revitalize the area.”<\/p>\n\n

Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea said in 2023<\/a> the project is viable and aligns with the city\u2019s vision for an entertainment district, capitalizing on Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino and Western Playland amusement park.<\/p>\n

Much of the opposition to the project has come from nearby dispensaries, which have distributed “false leaflets and statements mischaracterizing the entertainment complex as a ‘strip club’ and making incorrect claims regarding zoning and property location,” the news release alleged.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Sunland Park City Council sided with the opposition.<\/p>\n

Independent Nation’s lawsuit calls for “judicial review of (the city’s) actions as well as damages tied to theinvestments lost, opportunities delayed, and commitments made in reliance on the city\u2019s prior approvals.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a city calls on its community to help rebuild and then changes course mid-stream, it sends a message that progress here can\u2019t be counted on,\u201d said Amit Bijlani, principal for Independent Nation. \u201cAnd for Sunland Park and the entire Borderplex to thrive, predictability must be part of the promise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to go down this road. We just want the fairness and transparency every developer should be able to count on, especially when they\u2019re answering a city\u2019s own invitation to invest.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story is developing. Check back for updates.<\/em><\/p>\n

Adam Powell covers government and politics for the El Paso Times and can be reached via email at apowell@elpasotimes.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.elpasotimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunland Park officials and business owners are facing a lawsuit after backing out of a deal with Independent Nation. Independent Nation, the group behind a planned entertainment complex, has filed a lawsuit against Sunland Park officials and business leaders after the city’s “abrupt reversal of approvals” for the complex \u201cWe were excited to be able […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2185092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[349262,21796,23859,349726,350852,325273,421341,317655,21835,339628,40695,21739,22764,350847,74947,21738,239343,239420,308182,421340,239344],"class_list":["post-2185091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-recreational","tag-business","tag-business-news","tag-construction","tag-construction-u0026-maintenance","tag-drug","tag-drug-laws-u0026-policy","tag-drugs","tag-government","tag-laws","tag-legal","tag-local","tag-local-news","tag-maintenance","tag-negative","tag-news","tag-overall","tag-overall-negative","tag-policy","tag-recreational-drugs","tag-u0026"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Lawsuit-filed-after-Sunland-Park-halts-planned-entertainment-project.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2185091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2185093,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185091\/revisions\/2185093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2185092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2185091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2185091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2185091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}