The Germans Own Victory Park Now. But Last Night, It Was All David Genera's.

Just hours before word broke (in German first) that Ross Perot Jr. and Hillwood agreed to give up a majority stake in Victory Park, essentially turning it over to Hillwood's German investors, the beleaguered ghost town belonged to a single man: 50-year-old David Genera of Mesquite. We spotted him last...

By Kimberly Thorpe

April 21, 2009

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Just hours before word broke (in German first) that Ross Perot Jr. and Hillwood agreed to give up a majority stake in Victory Park, essentially turning it over to Hillwood's German investors, the beleaguered ghost town belonged to a single man: 50-year-old David Genera of Mesquite. We spotted him last night taking in Game 2 of Mavs-Spurs, which was being projected throughout the empty plaza to an audience of one, a solitary figure reclining in a folding chair on a patch of grass.

Genera said he couldn't think of a better way to spend his evening. He works nearby at Brodnax Printing Company on Reagan Street. He got off at 6 p.m. and didn't feel like rushing home -- after all, his wife was out of town. So he grabbed some dinner at Luna de Noche, then remembered he had his chair tucked away in the trunk. So he set it up at the intersection of N. Houston and Olive Street Streets to watch his Mavs lose to the Spurs just down the road in San Antone.

"What better way to spend a Monday afternoon?" he said. "Check it out." He gestured to the sky and then all around him. "Look at this. There's a star. That the only one I see, so it's a lucky star. I've got the fresh air. In two weeks it will be too hot to be out here. Besides, our taxpayer money built this, so enjoy it."

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