Courts roundup: Friedland sues Zabars for second time on UWS, partner dispute at $11M West Village walkup, more
216 West 80th Street (Credit - Google)
Friedland sues Zabars to force sale at second UWS property: Friedland Properties through the entity 214-16 West 80th LLC sued an entity controlled by the Zabar family, ZKZ 214 LLC, to force the sale of a second property on the Upper West Side, just two months after filing a similar suit against the Zabar family for two adjacent properties a block to the west. In the new case, William Friedland signed the petition seeking the partition of 214-216 West 80th Street.
Court cases are the positions of one party and are not necessarily accurate or complete.
The similar dispute is a block away, at 250 West 80th Street and 2231 Broadway, which the Commercial Observer reported on at the time.
The 214-216 West 80th Street parcel has frontage of 48 feet and is 102 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,920 square feet. The zoning is R8B which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.6 million.
The dispute at 250 West 80th Street and 2231 Broadway remains active. There, the Zabar family alleges the crux is that the two families agreed since buying the properties in 1979, that they would remain commercial as long as they owned it together, but that the Friedland family now wanted to redevelop the buildings as a mixed-use project, which the Zabar family believed would incur risk and would generate approximately the same returns. Meanwhile the Broadway building is being vacated to make way for its demolition, according to the Zabar response in the first action.
Tax lien pre-foreclosure on East Harlem stalled dev site: The lien holding sued to foreclose on a tax lien filed against 8 East 132 Street in East Harlem. The assessed value for the property is $548,000, and it has a $10 million loan shared with two other properties. There is one active new building construction project totaling 17,600 square feet. It is a 17-unit, 17,600-square-foot residential (R-2) building developed by Sreenivasa Gade with plans filed October 7, 2014 and permitted July 31, 2018. LINK
Dispute over redevelopment of $11 million Village rental: David Amirian alleges he and Steven Ostad formed a company to purchase and redevelop the six unit and retail walkup at 36 West 11th Street in Greenwich Village. They bought the property in October 2021 for $11 million, borrowing $9.9 million, with each signing as guarantors, according to the complain. The loans, the suit says, have a maturity date of October 8, 2022. Amirian alleges he has a 25% stake in the property and Ostad has 75%, and Ostad was the managing member, who would handle construction, refinancing, and most other issues. Amirian alleged Ostad has not complied with the terms of the agreement and that construction is at a standstill. According to the complaint, “Plaintiff has repeatedly attempted to push Defendant to take necessary steps to develop the Premises and move the project forward, including refinancing the Loans, in accordance with the Operating Agreement, to no avail.” LINK
Bronx co-op sues Joel Wiener to force sale of unsold units: The board for the 129-unit cooperative apartment building at 1110 Stadium Avenue in Country Club, the Bronx, alleges investor and developer Joel Wiener as holder of 30 unsold apartments has not sold enough of those apartments resulting in the lack of institutional financing for buyers of co-op units in the building, thereby reducing the value of the units. Other holders of unsold sales did sell units to reduce the overall number of unsold shares, but Wiener did not, the suit claims. The board alleges, “defendant’s level of ownership in the building has impaired other cooperators from selling or refinancing their units, prevented the plaintiff co-op from obtaining more favorable refinancing terms on its mortgage, and forced the plaintiff co-op and its shareholders to shoulder higher operating costs as a result of the transient occupancy of defendant’s units.” The board is asking the court to force Wiener to sell an unspecified number of units so the building becomes viable for apartment buyer loans. LINK