[kornbread]

"considering buying or leasing another downtown space"
It looks like the key words here are: buying, leasing, space.

I'm not saying this would prevent them from building, but it seems like there would be some urgency to get them to vacate if they have prospective buyer. If they don't, then it certainly sounds like relocating to an existing building is not out of the question. The article stated this process would take 12 to 18 months.