In an amended complaint filed Wednesday, neighbors and two advocacy groups dropped Align Real Estate, Safeway and its parent company Albertsons as “real parties in interest” — a legal designation that had allowed the firms to help defend the project in court even though they were not named as defendants. The revised filing still seeks to overturn the city’s approval of the 22-story tower planned for the waterfront site.

The shift sets up what amounts to a high-stakes game of chicken. With Align no longer a party, the city and PG&E remain the sole defendants unless the developer asks the court for permission to intervene. Align’s attorneys had previously sought to dismiss the suit, arguing that its civil rights claim misused a law originally written to protect Black Americans from the Ku Klux Klan. That dismissal effort could now be sidelined by the developer’s removal from the case.

The project has been a flashpoint in the Marina district, dividing residents over the scale of the proposed tower and its implications for the neighborhood’s character. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, had named the city and PG&E alongside the developer, but the amended complaint narrows the fight to public agencies.

For now, the case proceeds against the city and the utility, with the project’s approval hanging in the balance. Whether Align chooses to re-enter the legal fray could determine how quickly — or whether — construction moves forward.