A St. Louis circuit judge Monday afternoon denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the City of St. Louis aimed at showing it has clear title to land slated for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s new $1.75 billion facility.
The city filed the suit against the Bank of Washington on July 27, seeking “quiet title,” which requests the judge to make a judgment that declares one party the clear holder of a property’s title.
It’s part of a legal back and forth that occurred after the city announced developer Paul McKee was in default of several redevelopment agreements. In July, one of McKee’s biggest lenders, the Bank of Washington, sued the LCRA and asked that land within the future NGA site be returned.
The bank asked Judge David Dowd to dismiss the city’s quiet title case. But Dowd wrote Monday that because of “compelling circumstances,” the case against the bank will go forward.
Dowd wrote in the denial for a motion to dismiss that the LCRA claims the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency considers the bank’s lawsuits an “unacceptable cloud” on the project and that the land transfer “may be threatened.”
Dowd said in his order that “public policy and interest should permit this action to proceed.”
The suit is scheduled to go to trial Oct. 3.
No trial has been set in the initial case brought in Franklin County by the bank against the city
The city of St. Louis had said it would turn over 97 acres to the NGA by the end of the year. Otis Williams, executive director of the St. Louis Development Corporation, who has overseen the project, told St. Louis Public Radio last week that the land transfer is on track.
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