Courts roundup: Tenants sue at Gotham West, Philip House sues Ashkenazy; $7M Degraw suit

Courts roundup for Friday March 19 to Sunday March 21: There were no real estate bankruptcies of note.

Please note that court filings are the positions of the one party and are not necessarily accurate or complete.

Rent-regulated tenants sue Gotham Organization over “rent credits”: Tenants at Gotham Organization’s Gotham West which include 510, 530, and 550 West 45th Street, and 511 West 44th Street filed a suit seeking class action status based on a claim that Gotham removed a “rent credit” allegedly given for years to some rent-regulated tenants. “Gotham unlawfully revoked tenants’ utility credits and increased their monthly rent charges in excess of the Rent Stabilization Law and Code.” Gotham has not responded to this complaint, but in documents submitted by the plaintiffs, the landlord alleges the rent credits for certain tenants were being improperly added twice. “The utility credit was added to leases in error by a third-party property manager before Gotham started self-managing the buildings. We believe that property manager may have misunderstood the LIHTC regulations and mistakenly applied a second, duplicative utility credit,” Gotham said in a letter submitted to the local community board in July 2020. LINK

Philip House files to foreclose lien on Ashkenazy condo: The Philip House condominium filed a suit to foreclose on condo liens totaling $65,911 for retail condo units Ashkenazy Acquisition owns at 141 East 88th Street in Carnegie Hill. LINK

CMBS lender sues 611 Degraw owner: The plaintiff-lender seeks to block the borrower from transferring an interest in the property or making other changes. “Borrower has defaulted on its obligations and owes Plaintiffs no less than $6,684,496.69 plus interest thereon as of the date of the filing of this complaint (exclusive of attorneys’ fees, costs of collection, default interest, and other amounts accruing thereafter).” The property is 611 Degraw Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn. LINK

LoanCore Capital sues Nightingale principals for $5.8M in Miami Beach: LoanCore filed a suit seeking a money judgment against two Nightingale principals for money related to a loan LoanCore provided on 100 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, Florida. LINK