During his last hours as President, Dr. Joaquin Balaguer reached an agreement with Santo Domingo Mayor Rafael Subervi Bonilla over the disputed land on the grounds of the old Perla Antillana horse-racing track. When the central government assumed control over a large part of the land to construct the impressive Plaza de Salud medical complex consisting of four modern hospitals, Mayor Subervi filed suit against the central government, claiming that the area belonged to the city council and not the central government.
The construction of the medical complex continued, however, and now more than 3,000,000 square meters of leftover land in the area of the former horse-racing track have been given to the city council, together with RD$15 million in cash. Upon announcing the agreement to the news media, Mr. Subervi said that the land would be sold to private citizens to raise funds for the city council.
In reaction to the pact reached by Mr. Subervi and Dr. Balaguer, the former owner of the Perla Antillana track, Salomon Sanz, announced a RD$37 million suit against the Dominican government. Mr. Sanz claims that his company Eventos Deportivos, which operated the horse-racing track until its demolition in 1995, has rights to the land until 1997. Last year, Mr. Sanz failed to gain the contract to operate the new horse-racing track, the Quinto Centenario, and it went to a Puerto Rican company.