CONCORD — The city of Nashua’s long, drawn-out plan for the $64.5 million Broad Street Parkway across the Nashua River did not prevent a pair of developers from building on or marketing a 26.8-acre parcel, a portion of which was ultimately taken by eminent domain, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

J.K.S. Realty LLC and L.L.J. Realty LLC, trusts owned by Samuel Tamposi Jr. and Stephen Tamposi respectively, sued the city after a 2004 $4 million purchase and sale agreement fell through. They said that happened because of the city’s continuing uncertainty over whether it would take the property for the parkway.

Demolition in the area is just now taking place, with the parkway expected to open sometime in 2014.

The Tamposis have owned the property since 1980, years after plans for the parkway were first proposed in the 1970s.

They sued in Hillsborough County Superior Court for what’s known as an inverse condemnation. They alleged while the city had not taken the land at the time they filed the lawsuit, the continuing uncertainty over the parkway deprived them of all economically viable use of their property as of April 2004, when the $4 million deal collapsed.

The Supreme Court, however, upheld the lower court ruling issued by then-Hillsborough County Superior Court judge Robert J. Lynn, who is now an associate justice on the high court. He did not sit on the appeal.

The court agreed with Lynn, who ruled “the continuing uncertainty regarding the status of the BSP has (not) been so substantial and prolonged as to rise to the level of a taking.”

Attorney Gerald R. Prunier, who represented L.L.J. Realty, said the state notified the Tamposis on the day the trial opened in late 2010 that it was taking a little more than half the property for the parkway.

According to the Supreme Court ruling, the state Department of Transportation filed a “declaration of taking and a $1,315,000 deposit of damages with the New Hampshire Board of Tax and Land Appeals to acquire a portion of the petitioners’ property by eminent domain” on March 16, 2011.

The Tamposis are contesting the price.

“They’re taking all the good land and leaving all the bad — the land that’s difficult to develop,” said Prunier. The property is being appraised, he said, declining to give a value for it.

He said it is irrelevant whether his client agrees with the decision or not; he will abide by it. However, he said any developer who owns a property that could be subject to eminent domain should go ahead and make improvements on it. The city or state will just have to pay more for it once it’s developed, he said.

“It doesn’t help to be good guys and try to work with the city and towns,” he said.

The New Hampshire Union Leader was unable to reach Attorney James M. McNamee, who represented the city, for comment.

The court, in its 12-page decision, said the city “did not evince an unequivocal intention to take the petitioners’ property for purpose of the BSP. While the city indicated that it might take the petitioners’ property, its intention and the extent of the possible taking fluctuated with the varying BSP plans.”

And, the court said, the city did not prevent the Tamposis from developing it. They “were free to seek appropriate city approvals for development of the property for any use authorized by the applicable zoning; they simply chose, for whatever reasons, not to do so,” according to the court.

The parkway was originally conceived in the 1970s “to address air quality on Main Street ... as well as congestion in downtown Nashua and also to provide a second river crossing” over the Nashua River. It was included in the city’s master plan in 1985, the same year an environmental impact study (EIS) began, required for federal funding.

The EIS wasn’t completed until 1997 when it was decided the state DOT would take over the project and manage it for the city. It was expected the project would be completed in 2004, but various issues arose resulting in design changes including downsizing it from four lanes to two lanes. It was undecided whether a portion or all of the Tamposi parcel was needed.

Since 1998, the Tamposis tried numerous times to sell the property and had three separate purchase and sale agreements. All fell through. The $4 million deal, which was to close in April 2004, fell apart after the buyer learned the city was unsure whether it would take the property.

Since then, the Tamposis have not put the property up for sale although they made a profit from harvesting timber on it.