Plans for Mormon Temple in Center City Move Forward

A lawsuit which threatened to stop the development of a Mormon temple in center city Philadelphia has been suspended.

KYW's Kim Glovas reports that this clears the way for the project to move forward.

Terry Gillen, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority, says the lawsuit against developer Steven Klein has basically become a moot point:

"Right now what we've done is agreed to suspend the suit.  If this deal goes forward, we will mutually agree to drop the suit."

The Redevelopment Authority  had filed suit against Klein for buying the land cheap and sitting on it until the price was right. Mayor Nutter would not say whether the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is making a payment to the city to stop the lawsuit:

"I'm not going into any details about that, but the church has indicated that they want to be supportive at a significant level, and we're still in discussion about that.  And for the moment I'm going to leave it at that."

The $70-million project is expected to generate 300 construction jobs and 50 permanent jobs.