Courts roundup: Rybak, Stillman, PINKO, homeless shelter, etc. in suits

Nonprofit objects to family homeless shelter in Flushing: Shanghai Associate In USA, Inc. is a nonprofit community association that objects to the homeless shelter being planned at 133-04 39th Street with a long-term contract valued at $440.1 million. The association is suing the city. The landlord is AAFE, Asian Americans for Equality, and is not named in the petition. LINK

Court filings represent the positions of one party and are not necessarily accurate or complete.

City Connections sues for $500K commission payment: Barry Fields of City Connections Realty accuses AB Capstone of allegedly not honoring an override commission equal to half a commission valued at $500,000, for Fields’s alleged part in a lease transaction at 423-425 Westchester Avenue in the Bronx. AB Capstone has not yet responded with court papers. LINK

Noho condo board alleges $3M of construction work unfulfilled: The board of managers of the Schumacher condo at 36 Bleecker Street alleges the developer/sponsor, an affiliate of Stillman Development, “and the Individual Defendant failed to comply with the covenants, conditions and promises made in the Offering Plan, including the failure to complete renovations and construction work and to deliver a structurally safe building as required by Section 28-301.1 of the New York City Building Code. “The estimated cost of completing the construction work that should have been performed by Sponsor, including the cost of putting the building into a safe condition as required by the Building Code, is estimated to be an amount not less than three million dollars ($3,000,000) at this time.” Stillman has not yet responded. LINK

Rybak seeks $2M from sellers of $24M East Midtown dev site: Rybak Development, which acquired the parcels at 656 to 660 Lexington Avenue in Midtown East in December 2021 for $24.39 million, claims there were “fraudulent misrepresentations, material omissions” by the sellers, who were individuals of a fee position and a leasehold. “This is an action based upon the fraudulent misrepresentations material omissions of fact by 656-660 Lexington Avenue, LLC and Rise Realty, LLC (collectively, “Defendants”) plaintiff 660 Lexington Development LLC (“Plaintiff”) relied upon in acquiring said property for valuable consideration in connection therewith.” The defendants have not yet responded with court papers. LINK

Retailer PINKO files $10M suit to remain in Soho building: Italian women’s designer PINKO is suing to enforce an alleged four-year lease extension agreement it claims it negotiated but never fully executed with the sublandlord, the One Kings Lane’s entity OKL Holdings, at 143 Spring Street in Soho. As part of the suit, it seeks $10 million. PINKO signed a one-year sublease on March 5, 2021 with Bed Bath and Beyond’s former brand, One Kings Lane, (which Bed Bath sold during the Covid pandemic ) and was paying the greater of $30,000 per month or 15 percent of sales, according to Real Estate Weekly reporting in March 2021. The building is owned by an affiliate of Buchbinder & Warren, which is not a party in this suit. By March 2022, the complaint alleges, the parties had negotiated but not fully executed a sublease extension from March 5, 2022 that would end on June 29, 2026. “Throughout April, 2022 and May, 2022, Tenant continued to wait for Landlord to return the fully-executed Sublease, and followed up repeatedly with Landlord’s counsel… The Landlord’s apparent regret at entering into the Sublease cannot form the basis for denying its existence, reneging on its terms, or commencing a summary proceeding to retake possession of the Premises in violation of Tenant’s property interest.” The sublandlord has not yet filed response papers. LINK