The corporation insists that the half-acre lot is perfectly zoned for a hotel and gels with the city's vision of a resort development district north of Las Olas Boulevard, along the beach, Broward County Civil Court docs indicate.

Cortez claims that lower-level city staffers repeatedly OK'ed the project -- which also called for a restaurant, bar, lounge, and conference space.

But when the development was up for City Council approval, it got shot down several times -- a move that Cortez says permanently sapped the property of its value.

So now, the corp wants the municipality to pay $6.29 million for having "inordinately burdened" Cortez by having the audacity to do its job voting down potential overdevelopment.

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