A federal court judge in Montgomery County has ruled that the redevelopment of White Flint Mall can go forward despite a lawsuit by Lord & Taylor seeking to delay the project until its lease there expires in 2055.
As the Washington Post first reported, the court ruled Dec. 20 to reject Lord & Taylor’s request for an injunction delaying the 800,000-square-foot indoor mall’s conversion into a 5.2 million-square foot town center. Judge Roger Titus allowed other parts of its case to move forward including the potential for monetary damages. Lord & Taylor is seeking about $2 billion in damages.
Lord & Taylor claims the mall’s owners, principals of Lerner Enterprises and The Tower Cos., breached a 1975 agreement that required them to maintain White Flint as “a first-class, high-fashion regional shopping center.” It claims allowing leases to expire and partially demolishing part of the mall to make way for its redevelopment has also caused a sharp drop in the amount of pedestrian traffic, especially during the holiday shopping season.
