A Human resources company was shocked to learn that more than 300 old graves were beneath the property it bought in the Florida city of Clearwater.
FrankCrum is suing Clearwater’s Community Redevelopment Agency after archaeologists discovered there were likely hundreds of bodies buried under its office complex.
In 2022, an engineering company reported there were at least 328 graves under the property, which was the St. Matthews Baptist Church Cemetery in a 20th-century Black neighborhood, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Before FrankCrum bought the property in 2004 it belonged to a software company named Information Management Resources.
A written agreement between the redevelopment agency and the software company said the property did “not presently include human remains from any cemetery,” read FrankCrum’s lawsuit, filed in 2023, per the Tampa Bay Times.
FrankCrum alleges that it was unaware of the graves when it bought the property.
“Today’s taxpayers are litigating events that allegedly occurred more than a quarter of a century ago,” Clearwater spokesperson Joelle Castelli said in a statement to several local outlets.
“Most lawsuits are required to be filed within a couple years of the events. The passage of time is so vast that it’s become hard to track down witnesses, documents, and refresh recollections,” Castelli added.
The Independent has reached out to the city of Clearwater and FrankCrum for comment.
FrankCrum wants the redevelopment agency to pay for the removal of the graves, which could cost millions of dollars, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Descendants of those buried under the property want the bodies moved to another former Black cemetery in Clearwater’s North Greenwood neighborhood, according to the outlet.
The case is moving forward after an appeals court affirmed a ruling denying a motion from the redevelopment agency for a summary judgment last month. A trial date for the case is yet to be scheduled.
