Contractor Gilbane sues Soho Properties, claims it is owed $15.7M

By Adam Pincus

Gilbane, Inc., a construction management firm, filed a suit yesterday that claims it has not been paid $15.744 million for work at the Sharif El-Gamal and Soho Properties’ condominium project at 45 Park Place in Lower Manhattan. The suit is to review the “books and records” related to the project, and is not at suit seeking a judgment on the alleged unpaid fees.

Soho filed plans in May 2014 to build a 50-unit condominium building. The project has been permitted but no temporary certificate of occupancy has been filed and the project is “on hold” according to information from the city’s Department of Buildings.

The condo project has a current total sellout price of $447.6 million with the New York State Attorney General.

The lender of the project, Malayan Banking Berhad, filed a suit in March 2020 seeking to foreclose on the $174 million construction loan it provided for the project. Malayan, Warba Bank and 45 Park Place Investments LLC provided the financing in 2016. Soho Properties countersued the lenders in June 2020.

Gilbane signed on as construction manager in 2015. It claims in its petition that is completed all of its work agreed to under the contract by January 17, 2020.

The contract included as an exhibit an amended contract that identifies the “guaranteed maximum price” at $132.3 million and the “GC Lump Sum” at $12.5 million and a variety of additional fees based on percentages of costs.