It will cost Westfarms mall a pretty penny to settle a shopping war lawsuit. The Hartford Courant reports Taubman Centers Inc., the corporate parent of Westfarms mall and the mall's majority owner, will pay the owners of Blue Back Square $34 million for legal challenges that delayed construction by a year.
The negotiated settlement, which will be split by Blue Back developers Raymond Road Associates, BBS Development LLC and Blue Back Square LLC, will cover lost revenue, higher financing costs and other losses.
"The lawsuits pushed them right into the downturn," Blue Back attorney John Nolan of Day Pitney's Hartford office told the Courant. "By the time they opened Crate & Barrel [in October 2007], the economy was in trouble. Plus there was a big spike in construction costs during the delay."
Taubman Centers, which agreed to an out-of-court settlement last week, does not admit liability or fault. Nor do its four Westfarms partners.
Taubman owns 79 percent of the mall. Westfarms partners own the remaining 21 percent.
The town of West Hartford also sued Taubman for $4.5 million in damages because of delays. They allege the lawsuits were to prevent Crate & Barrel from becoming an anchor tenant at Blue Back and to entice that store to open at Westfarms.
