Maryland's second-highest court has upheld a Baltimore judge's decision to dismiss a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by the former developers of the city's "Superblock."
Last year, Baltimore Circuit Judge Pamela J. White threw out the $50 million suit, saying the city properly ended its deal with Lexington Square Partners when its contract for the land expired. But the developers appealed the decision, contending that the city illegally terminated their exclusive rights to build on the property.
Citing numerous delays and city-approved extensions, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake declined in 2013 to grant the developers another extension to come up with financing for the $152 million project. Lexington Square Partners said they'd spent more than $7 million in their six-year effort to develop the site and were on the verge of securing financing to move ahead when city officials halted the project.
In a ruling this week by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, Judge Robert A. Zarnoch wrote that the case was clear-cut. The city had authority to end the contract when it did in at the end of June in 2013, he wrote.
"It is undisputed that the parties failed to settle by June 30, 2013," Zarnoch wrote in the court's unanimous decision. "There are no other relevant facts to the dispute."
The "Superblock" site is bounded roughly by Lexington, Howard and Fayette streets and Park Avenue.
Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday that she is considering breaking up the site into smaller plots of land on which multiple developers could build.
"We want to make sure it moves forward as a successful project," she said. "This project is very essential to the transformation and the rebuilding of the west side."
She said she was pleased with the court's ruling. "I hope this is the end of the court process," she added.
Lexington Square Partners "respectfully disagrees with the court's decision, and is considering all legal options available to it," said Jason St. John, an attorney for the developers.
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