A group of veterans that is suing for control of the Seventh Regiment Armory building on the Upper East Side are counting on a federal judge being more sympathetic to their claims than state judges, who have already decided against veterans in two previous lawsuits.

The building, designated as a national historic landmark, takes up a full square block in between 66th and 67th streets and Park and Lexington avenues.

State officials granted a lease in 2005 to develop the site to the Seventh Regiment Armory Conservancy, which plans to convert the space into a performing arts and cultural center.

In their new lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in District Court in Manhattan, the veterans claim the Conservancy misled state officials into thinking it would open the building to the general public. The veterans say the Conservancy’s actual intention is to convert the historic space into a high-priced restaurant, cocktail bars, and corporate meeting rooms “priced to exclude the general public,” the suit says. The veterans are asking that the space be converted to a military museum.

The plaintiffs in the suit are two veterans of the regiment and the Disabled American Veterans of New York, which claims to bring the suit on behalf of all veteran organizations. None of the plaintiffs took part in the previous lawsuits filed in state court, according to their lawyer, Whitney Seymour Jr.

A statement from a Conservancy spokeswoman, Maureen Connelly, said: “This is the latest and most ridiculous lawsuit in a string of losing legal actions that the State and Federal courts have rejected again and again.”