The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the city regarding the sale of 2 Columbus Circle, the white marble building, formerly the Huntington Hartford Museum, designed by Edward Durrell Stone.

Since 2003, Landmark West and other preservation groups have been battling the city in court over the Landmarks Department’s decision not to give 2 Columbus Circle landmark designation.

Preservation groups had argued that the city inappropriately concluded that the building was not a historic resource, thought its Modernist-Venetian design is recognized by some as an important representative of the era.

The decision announced yesterday dismisses the appeals made by Landmark West of the Supreme Court decision to go ahead with the sale of 2 Columbus Circle to the Museum of Arts (formerly the American Craft Museum), which has plans to redesign the white marble facade.

The court also dismissed a second lawsuit filed by Landmark West in December, which claimed the Manhattan Borough Board had violated the Open Meetings Law by making its decisions behind closed doors.

According to the Executive Director of Landmark West, Kate Wood, “It’s definitely not over.”

The lead attorney for the city on the case, Susan Choi-Hoasman, said that while Landmark West can file for permission to go to the Court of Appeals, “the fact that they’ve lost in the lower two courts doesn’t bode too well” with respect to their prospects of success with the Court of Appeals in Albany.