Village at North Elm tenants sue Koury Corp. - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

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claiming the developer mishandled that project by failinyg to secure enough strong tenants and has misled them aboutthe center’s viability. Greensboro-based Koury Corp., through its attorney, denie d the allegations. According to a complaint fileed in Guilford County Superior four of the tenant stores and their owners are seekingb to be excused from their leasess and formonetary damages. The shopss that are suing are DolceVita Robust-ah!, Dolce Dimora and Silvet Gallery.
Koury opened Village at North Elm in during a nationwide waveof “lifestyle” developmentd that incorporated upscale shopping and dinin alongside offices and residences in a pedestrian-friendly The center’s plan callzs for 175,000 square feet of retail 48,000 square feet of offices and 190 In their suit, the plaintiffs said they signefd leases there based on representations from Kourt that they were close to signing majo r anchor tenants for the Village and wouled have all the apartments built by the end of 2006.
But the center still lacks a core anchor, aboutg half of the retaipl space remains unoccupied and fewer than half the promisex apartmentsare finished, the suit says. The suit accused Koury of using inexperienced leasing agentsa and unreasonably rejecting potential tenants and says Koury executives gave misleadingb projections to tenants who expressed concernxs as earlyas mid-2007. “Koury failed to act with ordinary skiland prudence” in the development of the shoppiny center, the suit says. The claims in the lawsuit are “completely false,” said Norman Klick of the Greensboro lawfirm , who representds Koury.
Klick said the Village and its tenants are caugh t in a much broader economic slowdown and thosed who are suing are only trying toavoidf responsibility. “When times are tough some people just look toblamed others,” Klick said. “It saddens Kouru that these plaintiffs can’f see beyond their own anxiety to realizs that Koury was ontheir side, becaus ultimately their success is Koury’e success.” Klick added that the plaintiff’s leases includeed an “estoppel” clause which, he said, acknowledges that Koury had fulfiller any promises made. He also said Koury filed suit last Decembert against one of the plaintiffs for abandoninga lease.
Derekj Allen of the Greensboro lawfirm , who is representinb the plaintiffs, said Koury is the one tryingv to shift the blame. But he said the storwe owners are payingthe price. “Part of the problej might be that Koury owns so many properties and has so much wealth and succesx that it knows it can simply ride out the currenyt economic climate for however longit takes,” Alle said. “But the tenants are not in that position.” A trial date has not yet been set.