Bank of Washington attorney Paul Puricelli, whose firm Stone, Leyton & Gershman has also represented McKee for years, said his client intends to proceed with the claims in the lawsuit the judge allowed.

Though the city still faces the risk that McKee’s bank could win damages in court, Tuesday’s ruling bars its attempt to reinstate a claim on land where the federal government has already awarded a $700 million-plus construction contract and hopes to begin work soon on a massive intelligence campus.

Bank of Washington’s lawsuit, filed in July, came a month after the city ended its 2009 development agreement with McKee, who bought up hundreds of acres of north St. Louis property over the last 15 years and promised major redevelopments in the area. While little has been redeveloped, McKee helped first draw the attention of the NGA to the North Side neighborhood. The city assembled the remainder of the site.

The bank’s lawsuit claims the LCRA misled it into releasing its liens on McKee’s land in a January 2016 agreement following tense negotiations between McKee, his bank and the economic development agency.

St. Louis wins another round in legal fight with Bank of Washington, McKee The city has sought to make doubly-certain the real estate for the $1.7 billion NGA project can be transferred to the federal government next month.