White Flint Mall Lawsuit Put On Hold As Amazon Considers Site For HQ2
A dispute over the ownership of the former White Flint Mall site in Montgomery County is being cooled down as the site remains in consideration for Amazon's second headquarters.
The minority owners of the 44-acre site, who sued majority owners Lerner Enterprises and Tower Cos. last month, have agreed to bring the issue to arbitration, the Washington Business Journal reports.
Descendants of developer Henry Reich, who control 25% of the property, filed a lawsuit March 28 arguing the majority owners were trying to force them to sell their stake in the site for significantly less than what they stand to gain. The property sits along the Rockville Pike, just south of the White Flint Metro station.
The site is reportedly under consideration for Amazon HQ2, a $5B investment that could bring 50,000 employees and absorb 8M SF of office space. The lawsuit says Amazon officials toured the property with Tower and Lerner March 4, and the following day the majority owners began pushing to take full ownership of the property.
In the most recent consent order, dated April 9, the minority owners agreed to stay their lawsuit and enter arbitration, while the majority owners agreed not to take any steps toward forcing a sale.
Lerner and Tower Cos. lost a previous lawsuit over the property in 2015 when a judge awarded Lord & Taylor $31M due to a breach of contract for demolishing the remainder of the mall. The owners then lost their appeal last year.
