Courts roundup: Extell sues over delayed $28M retail sale; 3 pre-foreclosures totaling $12.9M

Extell sues over delayed $28M Chelsea retail condo sale: Extell Development as contract vendee sued Landsea Homes, a public condo and home developer, for allegedly delaying and not satisfying requirements for the $28 million sale of a retail condo in Chelsea and instead allegedly seeking to sign a lease valued at $20 million with JPMorgan Chase and retain the property as well as the $2.8 million deposit. The retail condo is in a project called the Forena at 540 Sixth Avenue in Chelsea.

Extell seeks specific performance of the sale or $5.6 million, which is 200 percent of the deposit, among other demands. LINK

Court filings are the positions of one party and are not necessarily accurate or complete. Landsea has not yet filed response papers. The Commercial Observer first reported on this suit yesterday.

The earlier reporting did not identify JPMorgan Chase as the retail bank, nor the $28 million contract price.

Landsea and DNA Development bought the site in 2018 for $52.75 million from Extell, then developed a condominium building with a total sellout of $127.3 million including 50 residential units and one retail unit. Extell signed a contract in 2018 to buy the 11,500-square-foot retail condo for $28 million, according to documents filed for the public listing of Landsea shares in 2021. The lease is allegedly worth $20 million, the lawsuit says.

The public listing notice says, “According to information of a copy of Agreement for Purchase and Sale of 12 September 2018 provided by Landsea Homes Group, [the] retail portion of the property with floor area of approximately 11,500 square feet was sold by LS-14 AVE LLC to EXRP 14 HOLDINGS LLC in a consideration of US$28,000,000. The closing of the transactions contemplated hereby shall occur at 10:00 am, New York City time, on the date which is the earlier to occur of (i) 12 March 2022 and (ii) ten days after the issuance of a temporary certificate of occupancy for the retail option.”

Landsea is based in Newport Beach, California, but counts China-based Landsea Green Properties Co. as an owner.

According to the complaint, “Seller knew of that relationship [between Extell and the bank] and intentionally interfered with it. In its letter dated July 6, 2022, Seller requested information concerning EXRP’s prospective tenant and claimed that Seller had the right to negotiate its own lease directly with Tenant. Seller’s attempt to cut EXRP out of the process so that it can negotiate its own lease directly with Tenant is in bad faith, unlawful, malicious, without legitimate business purpose, and will harm EXRP’s relationship with Tenant.”

The lawsuit was signed by Abba Barnett, nephew of Gary Barnett and an executive at Extell.

Direct link to Acris document. link

MidFirst Bank files $9.5M pre-foreclosure in Williamsburg: MidFirst Bank filed a suit yesterday seeking to foreclose on a $9.5 million loan provided to Choy Ling Lam and Ching Lam and secured by 346 Roebling Street in Williamsburg. LINK

SKW Funding files two pre-foreclosures totaling $3.37M: SKW Funding, which includes Dalan Management as an investor, filed to foreclose on two loans totaling $3.375 million that it recently acquired. The larger is a $1.95 million loan secured by 207 Clinton Street on the Lower East Side LINK, while the other is a $1.425 million loan secured by 816 56th Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. LINK

UPDATE: The 540 Sixth Avenue story was updated with the identity of the bank as JPMorgan Chase.