By JAMES FINK
Business First

Efforts by a downtown landlord to block the development of a neighboring project have been stymied by the Buffalo Planning Board.

Despite arguments from a lawyer representing the owners of the Liberty Building/Main Place Mall/Main Place Tower complex, the planning board agreed to extend previously approved plans for a multitenant office building at 50 Court Street. The project has been proposed by Carl Paladino and his Ellicott Development Co.

The action before the planning board was the latest salvo in a long-simmering legal feud between Paladino and Violet Realty Inc., owners of the trio of Main Street buildings.

Paladino first proposed the 11-story, 300,000-square-foot building in 2004, but the project has been delayed by a series of lawsuits initiated by Violet Realty, a company headed by Patrick Hotung. Hotung and Paladino have waged a series of legal battles over the years - many directly connected to the proposed office building at 50 Court St., which sits right behind the Liberty Building, Main Place Mall and Main Place Tower.

Hotung has repeatedly stated that he would like to buy the 50 Court Street parcelthat run between Pearl and Court streets to create additional parking for his tenants and has also expressed concerns that a new office building could potentially drive tenants from his complex to the new building.

When Paladino first announced the 50 Court Street project, he was hoping to land at least two major law firms as anchor tenants - Cellino & Barnes PC and Damon & Morey LLP. Cellino & Barnes, however, is moving to the Main Place Tower, while Damon & Morey will be moving to the Avant building at 200 Delaware Ave. next summer.

Paul Gregory, a lawyer and senior executive with Paladino's Ellicott Development, told the planning board the office building would have been constructed by now if not for the series of lawsuits filed by Hotung and Violet Realty. Ellicott Development has won two legal battles with Violet Realty.

"We hope to pick up where we left off," Gregory said.

The project, however, may not be of the same size and scope.

Laurence Rubin of Kavinoky Cook LLP, Violet's attorney and a former development chief with both the City of Buffalo and Erie County, said he believes the project will be 28 percent, or roughly eight stories, smaller, and any modification will open the door for a new review process. The extension, Rubin argued, was unprecedented and could open a Pandora's Box of issues for the city down the road.

"It could have a chilling effect on the development community," Rubin said. "This is all simply too stale. You don't make decisions sitting around the table without looking at the salient facts."

However, planning-board members acknowledged that the only reason that Ellicott Development was seeking its extension was the delays caused by legal action.

"Lawsuits specifically designed to stall projects should not be rewarded," noted Cynthia Schwartz, a board member.