TROY – Bow Tie Cinemas is suing the city of Troy claiming that city officials were “intentionally misleading” about the 1 Monument Square site where the company planned to build a $22.7 million movie theater complex.

The lawsuit said Bow Tie through its BTP Monument Square LLC subsidiary relied on city officials to tell the truth as it developed plans to erect an 11-theater cineplext at the former City Hall site.

There was an “utter lack by the City and its officials, officers and employees, of any reasonable due diligence and (they) were grossly negligent and intentionally misleading..,” Bow Tie states in its lawsuit.

Bow Tie filed the lawsuit Wednesday in the Rensselaer County Clerk’s Office, following up on a pledge to recover the $186,065 it invested to develop the project and the $60,000 payment it made to the city in the first phase of acquiring the 1.18 acre site located between River Street and the Hudson River.

The project collapsed when local developer Sam Judge of Judge Development Corp. sued the city and Bow Tie saying that the city had failed to deal with parkland issues. The site is located at Riverfront Park’s southern end and includes designated parkland. The city needs the state Legislature’s permission to sell parkland.

Bow Tie terminated the project on Sept. 26. This was the fourth unsuccessful attempt to develop the site. The city pulled out of City Hall during former Mayor Harry Tutunjian’s administration to open up the location for development.

The movie theater company said that the city “either knew or should have known about the legal impediments to the Project.” It pointed out that the city had gone through prior requests for proposals and should have known about what was needed to develop the property.

“The city is not going to comment on any pending litigation involving the city,” John Salka, a spokesman for Mayor Patrick Madden, said Thursday.

Bow Tie operates movie theaters in Schenectady, Saratoga Springs and Wilton.

The city promoted the movie theaters project as a way of creating an 18-hour downtown that would help bring in business. Bow Tie predicted about 10,000 people would go to the movies weekly. There was some opposition to the project from local residents and businesses who questioned whether there would be enough parking and the overall design of the modern theaters in the Victorian-era downtown.

Bow Tie is seeking in the lawsuit to have the city to pay the $186,065 in fees for architects, engineers, attorneys and other costs and the $60,000 for the land use agreement. It also wants interest on the $246,065 payable since July 25, attorney’s fees for the court action and any other relief court grants.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 15, 2018 before Acting State Supreme Court Justice Michael H. Melkonian at the county courthouse.