Colorado town faces contract claim from disappointed developer

A contract dispute between a Chicago real estate developer and the town of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, may turn out badly for the home team.  A Colorado court has expressed “distaste” for the town redevelopment agency’s “thumbing its nose” and “refusing to level” with a developer trying to build a Walgreen’s drug store.

The Cornerstone Group signed a contract with the Wheat Ridge Urban Renewal Authority in 2003, after the local city council approved the deal.  WRURA was supposed to use its sovereign power to take property by eminent domain that would then be turned over to Cornerstone, which would build the store.  The project was contentious, and local residents and businesses fought hard.  WRURA eventually backed out of the deal.  The developer sued.

Cornerstone says that the issue is whether WRURA’s contract with Cornerstone is enforceable; the agency claims that Cornerstone “didn’t understand” the steps that would have to be taken to finish the deal.

Cornerstone won the first round, convincing a Colorado state judge that it would likely win its contract claim and gaining an injunction against spending by the agency to preserve assets for a damages award.