After abandoning a 2 million square-foot warehouse project at Abingdon Woods, the project developer, BTC III, has filed a lawsuit against an affiliate of the project’s former co-developer, Westport Group, LLC regarding a land purchase agreement.
In the lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of Maryland on July 16, BTC III is seeking relief from paying installments to Westport for the purchase of property at Abingdon Woods as well as acknowledgement that BTC III acted in good faith and abided by its contract with Westport.
When the project was introduced in 2019, BTC III and Chesapeake Real Estate Group Westport I were the developers.
CREG Westport I — which is identified in the lawsuit as an affiliate of Westport Group LLC — entered into a purchase agreement with the owner of Abingdon Woods, Harford Investors LLP, in 2018. In 2021, Westport purchased CREG Westport I and CREG gave all of its purchasing rights under the agreement with Harford Investors, to BTC III.
Around the same time, CREG Westport I sold its contract of interest in the project to Westport. Since then, BTC III has been the only developer listed for the project.
BTC III was slated to pay Westport $28.9 million in three installments for the portion of the land it planned to use for the Abingdon Business Park. BTC III has paid Westport a total of $20 million.
BTC III’s payment of the remaining two installments was contingent upon development conditions outlined in an agreement called a consultant service agreement being satisfied,
However, BTC III’s efforts to move the project forward have been blocked by three lawsuits — one from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which challenged the project’s forest conservation plan, a second from the Gunpowder Riverkeeper, who challenged the projects wetland permits, and a third from Harford County government, which issued a “stop work order” and pulled the project’s grading permit due to concerns about permitting.
Concerned residents formed the Abingdon Woods Coalition to coordinate with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Harford Climate Action and other groups to push back against the proposed project.
Due to the litigation and opposition from the community, the lawsuit states that BTC III was unable to acquire the land and found the project to no longer be feasible. As a result, it signed an agreement with the county to abandon the project this month.
BTC III has spent an unrecoverable $35 million on pre-construction activities, permits, approvals and three lawsuits related to the now abandoned Abingdon Business Park project, according to the lawsuit.
Even though the conditions of the second and third installments were not met, Westport has “demanded” the installments still be paid, according to the lawsuit.
Additionally, Westport has alleged that BTC III has not acted in good faith and violated the parties’ contracts by not buying the land.
Legal representatives for BTC III and Westport did not respond to a request for comment regarding the lawsuit.
BTC III, through its agreement with the county, is required to stabilize the 327-acre Abingdon Woods property, build new stormwater management facilities for the site and reforest portions of the property that were graded.
The property is zoned for commercial and industrial use — the highest density zoning in the county — and can still be developed, should the property owner seek a new developer.
Members of the Save Abingdon Woods Coalition said they would like the land to be preserved. Councilman Dion Guthrie, who represents District A, where the project was to be built, said it may be possible to downzone the property to a lower density during the county’s comprehensive rezoning in the fall.
However, no plans for the land have been presented by county officials or developers at this time.