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ST. LOUIS — A judge has ruled that the city’s economic development agency did not renege on an agreement it made with developer Paul McKee’s primary lender over north St. Louis land deals.

Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Jason H. Lamb that the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority and its LCRA Holdings Corp. did not declare that McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration was in default of a development agreement regarding plans for its north city properties and that the agencies were not required to sign off on any new deal with NorthSide.

Attorneys for McKee’s lender, Bank of Washington, said they intend to appeal the decision.

“This decision is really a pyrrhic victory for the city of St. Louis,� said Joseph Dulle of the Stone, Leyton & Gershman law firm. “All the city has done if this decision stands is to throw a roadblock in front of the only lender willing to fund a large-scale investment in the revitalization of North St. Louis in five decades.�

The Bank of Washington, based in Franklin County, sued the LCRA, its affiliate group and the city of St. Louis in 2018 after the city ended its 2009 development agreement with McKee, who had acquired hundreds of acres of north city real estate to redevelop. McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration did not build as much as initially promised, though the developer erected a new gas station and grocery store on Tucker Boulevard. The grocery, Greenleaf Market, is currently closed.

But McKee did help draw the attention of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to north city for its new western headquarters. City Hall helped assemble the rest of the land for the NGA deal.

The bank’s lawsuit claimed LCRA misled it into releasing its liens on McKee’s land in a 2016 agreement that said LCRA would try to renegotiate NorthSide’s development agreement on behalf of City Hall in exchange for McKee selling his land to the city, including some he had purchased from its land bank just years earlier. The bank later dismissed the city from the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, the bank alleged LCRA falsely represented that it would approve a new agreement.

But ultimately no agreement was reached.

Neal Richardson, head of St. Louis Development Corp., the agencies’ umbrella organization, lauded Thursday’s ruling.

“Today’s ruling brings us one step closer to finally putting this issue behind us so we can fully concentrate on creating a prosperous future for economic development in the great city of St. Louis, free from any obstacles that might impede our growth,� Richardson said in a statement.

Jacob Barker of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.