Courts roundup: Investor claims owners seek to sell $55M Gramercy rental, $3.7M Sunset Park dispute, $2.6M homeless contract suit

Investor claims owners seek to sell $55M Gramercy rental: An individual who alleges he invested $250,000 in the $55.5 million purchase in 2016 of the 56-unit mixed-use rental building at 51 Irving Place, in Gramercy, claims the owners including Springhouse Partners want to sell the property “at a loss.”
Court filings represent the positions of one party and are not necessarily accurate or complete. Springhouse Partners has not yet responded in court papers.
The plaintiff, Benjamin Lapin, alleges he invested $250,000 in a “conservative” project led by Adam Verner’s Springhouse Partners which acquired the rental building 51 Irving Place for $55.5 million in May 2016, and now the managing partner is looking to sell the building. Lapin objects to selling the property and criticized Springhouse Partners’ management of the asset.

According to the complaint, “In September 2022, Benjamin received an email from Defendants, saying that although the real estate market had come back and was stronger than ever, Defendants would be looking to sell at a loss to the investors… Defendants are also, for their own personal reasons, seeking to liquidate the project at a substantial loss to minority shareholders like Benjamin, instead of simply holding out until the project at least breaks even so that minority shareholders like Benjamin do not lose substantial sums of money.”

Eyal Ofer’s Global Holdings Management Group includes this property on its website as one it owns, but neither Eyal Ofer nor Global Holdings is mentioned in the complaint. Springhouse Partners and Global Holdings did not immediately respond to a request for comment. LINK

$3.7M Sunset Park dispute blocks project construction funding: The plaintiffs, the individual Ronnie Sun as a member of Sunrise Plaza LLC, and that LLC, own the development site at 617 62nd Street in Sunset Park. Sun is partner with Andy Weihan Ho and Danny Wu, who are also owners through the entity Sunrise Plaza LLC.

Sun alleges Ho obtained a $3 million personal loan from a relative of Ho’s (the daughter-in-law of Ho’s uncle), but at the time of the loan listed the LLC as the borrower. The lender sued 716296/2022 and won a $3,728,794.58 judgment against both Ho and the Sunrise Plaza LLC, which Ho has appealed.

According to the new complaint, “Danny and Andy filed affidavits which admitted that they never consulted other members of Plaintiff before signing the Promissory Note and Danny did not have authority to sign the Promissory Note on behalf of Sunrise. Danny and Andy also admitted that the contemplated loan was to Andy personally, not to Sunrise… Plaintiff’s other members did not find out about the Cheung Action [which foreclosed on the $3 million loan for nonpayment] or the Promissory Note until in or around December 21, 2022, after the MSJ had been fully submitted, when Plaintiff’s lender refused to fund the project as a result of the Cheung Action…” LINK

Cornell Realty sues city for $2.6M in homeless costs: Cornell Realty Management, the former owner of the Tillary Hotel at 85 Flatbush Avenue Extension in Downtown Brooklyn, alleges the city owes it $2.58 million through a contract to house the homeless and people with Covid, as well as resulting damage to the property. Cornell lost the property to lender Ohana Real Estate Investors through a bankruptcy action in November 2022. LINK

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page.