Courts roundup: Tenants sue Greenbrook; Podolskys seek removal of RPIE fine; M. Eisenberg sues Parkway Village board

Courts roundup for June 25 to June 28: There were no real estate bankruptcies and no foreclosures above $5 million.

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

Tenants claim they are rent-regulated at Greenbrook rental: Ten tenants at the 30-unit rental building 70 Prospect Park West, which Greenbrook Partners acquired in March for $15 million, filed a lawsuit June 25, 2021, claiming their apartments are rent regulated but have not been declared as such in their leases. The suit was not unexpected, as the plaintiffs had spoken with The Real Deal in May after some received non-renewal notices. A spokesperson for Greenbrook declined to comment. LINK

Podolskys, Joan Rahav seek removal of RPIE fines: The owners, Jay and Stuart Podolsky, and in a separate action, Joan Rahav, are seeking the removal of fines the city imposed for failing to file real property income and expense (RPIE) statements during Covid. Rahav’s filing said: “On February 27, 2021, Petitioners were assessed Non-Filing Penalties ranging from $100 to $60,000.00, as shown on Exhibit 3, for failure to file a Real Property Income and Expense statements for 2019 related to each of the 29 Premises. The total amount of the penalties assessed was $170,600. 14. Petitioners had not received any prior notice of such RPIE failure to file penalties, and thus had no opportunity to cure any failure to file an RPIE Statement for the Premises, or to request a hearing relating to the assessed penalty for failure to file a 2019 RPIE Statement.” LINK

Mordechai Eisenberg sues Parkway Village board: Investor Mordechai Eisenberg, an owner of commercial and residential rental cooperative units at Parkway Village in Briarwood, Queens, sued the board seeking a list of shareholders and other information in preparation for an election in September that could change control of the board. LINK

Port Authority sues TWA Hotel lessor for $555K: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey sued the entity that manages and leases the TWA Hotel, controlled by MCR Development, for not paying rent on a logistics facility related to the hotel. According to the complaint the tenant owes $555.326. “On March 24, 2021, the Port Authority sent Defendant a letter demanding payment for Defendant’s use of the premises… Pursuant to the Lease, the letting of the space would commence as of September 1, 2019 and expire at 11:59 p.m. on August 31, 2024.  Pursuant to the Lease, Defendant was to use the premises as a third-party logistics facility to store and facilitate the movement of goods for the TWA Hotel… Pursuant to section 4 of the Lease, the leasehold was divided into two areas for the purposes of determining rent. For the ‘Building’ area, the parties agreed Defendant would pay $433,411.92 per annum, payable in advance in equal, consecutive, monthly installments of $36,117.66 beginning on the ‘Rent Commencement Date’. For the ‘Ground Area’, the parties agreed Defendant would pay $49,355.52 per annum, payable in advance in equal, consecutive, monthly installments of $4,112.96 beginning on the ‘Rent Commencement Date.”  LINK