The Friends of the Loew's is celebrating a victory in its battle to maintain control over the landmark theater in Journal Square.

But is it a temporary victory, as city officials say, and will it just delay the inevitable -- the takeover of operations by AEG, a big-time sports and entertainment promoter? Will the court battle -- ensured by a judge's reversal of an earlier decision -- just serve to slow the revitalization of once-proud Journal Square?

Last month, Hudson County Superior Court Judge Hector Velazquez tossed the lawsuit filed by the Friends of the Loew's, who had claimed that they held a valid lease with the city.

But yesterday Velazquez reversed his earlier decision, saying in essence that there is enough evidence for the FOL's lawsuiut to heard.

"The judge said, 'I was wrong,'" Roberta Tarkan, FOL's new attorney, told The Jersey Journal. "We're back to square one."

Journal Staff Writer Terrence T. McDonald reported that according to Tarkan, Velazquez changed his mind after seeing a 2009 ordinance adopted by the City Council that "everyone just overlooked."

Under a proposal approved last month, AEG, one of the world's biggest concert promoters, would pay $350,000 annually to rent the theater for 30 years and contribute $3.5 million toward its renovation.