Pictured Tuesday afternoon is the former Key Bank building at 200-210 N. Main St. in Jamestown. The property is the subject of a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court in Mayville. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

A third lawsuit has been filed against the owner of two downtown Jamestown bank buildings.

LaBella Associates, headquartered in Rochester, has filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Mayville seeking $22,900 plus interest for services rendered and partially unpaid by Arnold Duke, owner of the former Marine Midland and Key Bank buildings on Main Street, Jamestown. The latest lawsuit was filed June 3.

It’s the third lawsuit since 2020 since the renovation of the former Key Bank building, 200-210 N. Main St., Jamestown, ground to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic. The building is now listed for sale for $500,000 with an assessed value of $325,000. The buildings have been for sale for more than a year.

The plan for the former Key Bank building was to transform the property into a dinner theater, residential apartments and office space. The plan for the former Marine Midland Bank was to create a new location for a local distillery. Arnold Duke had received a $500,000 Restore New York grant for the Key Bank building as well as $1 million from the Downtown Revitalization Initiative the city received from the state.

In addition to LaBella, Duke has lost proceedings to Cattaraugus County Bank, which provided construction financing for the Key Bank renovation, and Galster Enterprises, which provided management services. Galster has been granted a judgement of $63,529.52 plus interest while Cattaraugus County Bank has been granted a judgement of $229,998.

While no replies have been filed yet in the LaBella claim, Duke’s claims in the Cattaraugus County Bank and Galster Enterprises cases show how quickly personal circumstances and a pandemic can affect development projects.

Galster was hired to provide construction management services and write grant requests for the former Marine Midland and Key Bank properties in downtown Jamestown. According to one of the exhibits in Galster’s lawsuit, Galster offered to waive interest owed and take payments for the work she had done. Duke’s response to Galster indicated a major medical emergency in October 2020, coupled with a divorce proceeding that had frozen many of Duke’s assets and cost the developer $1.5 million. The COVID-19 pandemic closed Duke’s jewelry show company for more than a year with little promise of a quick relaunch. In 2021, Duke told The Post-Journal he was looking for a partner to help him finish the projects. Duke said in an email entered as evidence in court filings in the Cattaraugus County Bank lawsuit that asbestos remediation on the Key Bank building was about half finished when work had to cease.

“It’s very difficult to go from making nearly a million dollars a year to zero overnight,” Duke wrote. “Although I am trying to start up again shows will be small and not very profitable to start. When the world opens up again (I) hope they will return. I listed both bank buildings as I can’t pay taxes, insurance or anything. My girlfriend and children have been supporting me this past year.”