Judge William Skretny
The City of Buffalo expressed desire to build affordable single-family homes within city limits. A Feb. 25, 2008, letter to intertwined housing development companies NRP Holdings LLC and NRP Properties LLC (collectively NRP) by Wanamaker, the executive director of Buffalo’s Office of Strategic Planning, purportedly included the city’s promise to offer its “usual Low-Income Housing Pilot Agreement” and its commitment to provide 51 vacant lots at a price of $2,000 per lot. The project was never completed—NRP refused to include, and pay, the mayor’s political ally and his company. Added as a defendant in NRP’s July 18, 2012, second amended complaint, the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency (BURA) sought dismissal of the surviving promissory-estoppel claim as against it. The court denied the claim’s dismissal noting that although the court previously found that the Wanamaker letter did not create a binding contract between NRP and the defendants, it never found the letter made no promises. Further, as there was no enforceable agreement between NRP and defendants, there was no “duties-independent-of-the agreement” requirement. Thus, the situation at issue was precisely that in which a promissory-estoppel claim could apply.
