Johns Hopkins University tried to break up with a landlord in downtown Baltimore last year, court records show.

It’s not you, said the research institution; it’s our grant funding. Then the university bought an office building in Washington, D.C., last month for $31 million.

The awkward timing is now part of a lawsuit filed by the landlord, Virginia-based American Real Estate Partners. If Johns Hopkins University needed office space, the landlord said in court papers, why abandon the Candler Building at 700 E. Pratt St. in downtown Baltimore?

American Real Estate Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Johns Hopkins is one of several tenants at the Candler Building. Hopkins spokesperson Doug Donovan declined to comment, saying the university does not comment on pending litigation.

At issue in the lawsuit is whether Johns Hopkins University as a whole — or just its Bloomberg School of Public Health — is responsible for the Baltimore lease. At least three programs affiliated with the public health school list addresses there: the Center for a Livable Future, the Institute for Planetary Health and the Center for Health Security.

No other division of Johns Hopkins used office space at the Candler Building.

According to the lawsuit, the university said grant cuts related to the Bloomberg School of Public Health meant it could vacate the building early under a provision in their lease agreement. But American Real Estate Partners said other divisions of the university are legally obligated to try to fill that office space.

Filed this month in Baltimore City Circuit Court, the lawsuit said that more than $2.6 million of annual rent is at stake. American Real Estate Partners is asking that the lease termination be reversed.

The firm bought the building in January 2017 for just over $60 million, property records show. Built in 1912, the Candler Building was originally a bottling and distribution site for Coca-Cola and later housed the Social Security Administration, according to a fact sheet from the agency. Its name comes from the founder of Coca-Cola, Asa Griggs Candler.

The squat 12-story building doesn’t dominate the skyline. But at more than 550,000 square feet, it’s one of downtown’s biggest office buildings.

A listing online shows more than 70,000 square feet available to lease at the Candler Building. That number could grow if Johns Hopkins is able to end its lease later this year.

In recent years, demand for office space in central Baltimore has plummeted. According to MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate, the office vacancy rate in the city center surpassed 31% last year.