The city owns the Boy Scouts building in the Logan Square neighborhood and tried to evict the organization over its national policy of excluding gays. That led to a federal lawsuit, which the city lost, forcing it to pick up the Boy Scouts' bills.
City officials could not immediately say what they would do next. Options include appealing the case, which gay-rights advocates have long demanded.
In the meantime, the legal bills are mounting. Also in the Friday filing, Gosselin said that since the attorneys' fees were initially awarded in July 2010, his firm, Drinker, Biddle & Reath L.L.P., had since done more work, bringing the total to about $1.04 million.
"We would be happy to have the old deal, but we can't do it without the city," Gosselin said, "so we're at an impasse."
The amount of the bills has been in dispute; Gosselin also filed exhibits detailing the work to explain the total.
The city had agreed to sell the 13,000-square-foot building to the Scouts for about $500,000 as payment for the legal fees, about half the property's appraised value. Advocates for the gay community called it a sweetheart deal. The city has defended the decision as a reasonable compromise to avoid paying the higher amount of the legal bills.
Duane Perry, a former Eagle Scout and one of many civil-liberties advocates who had opposed the settlement, said he believed the city should continue to press the Boy Scouts to stop discriminating.
Clarke did not return a phone call seeking comment.
"This matter is in litigation," said Mark McDonald, a spokesman for the mayor, "and I am unable to comment."
Real estate investor Mel Heifetz has offered to pay as much as $2 million for the building, but the city has previously said it could not consider a competing offer while the old one was on the table.
Contact staff writer Miriam Hill at 215-854-5520, hillmb@phillynews.com, or @miriamhill on Twitter.
