COLUMBIA, MD—Howard Hughes Corp., the master developer of the massive Downtown Columbia development, is threatening to halt work on the project if the county forces the firm to transfer ownership of the Merriweather Post Pavilion earlier than planned.

The company say it was “blindsided” by a bill proposed by Howard County Executive Ken Ulman to mandate the developer transfer ownership of the pavilion when it hits a benchmark of building 500,000 square feet of space, according to Howard Hughes Senior Vice President John DeWolf. The developer has already built approximately 490,000 square feet of the planned Downtown Columbia project that calls for 5.35 million square feet of commercial space and 5,500 residential units to be developed, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.

“Frankly and honestly, an option for us to consider is to shut down and move elsewhere. And frankly, we consider this a moratorium” on new construction, DeWolf says. “What we're having a hard time with is how on one hand [Ulman] can say we're behind renovations, when the original plan called for us to complete the first phase of renovations at 1.3 million square feet.” See story in the Baltimore Business Journal.