George Comfort & Sons seeks $1.7M from Whole Foods in Nomad lease dispute

George Comfort & Sons is seeking $1.7 million in alleged unpaid rent from Whole Foods in the second court filing related to a dispute between the parties over a 57,000-square foot retail lease at 63 Madison Avenue in Nomad. The suits hinge on a Con Edison gas connection to the property, and when and if work related to that triggers the rent commencement.

The new suit filed Friday comes a month after the Amazon-owned grocer filed its own legal action that it said sought to preserve its lease which the grocer claimed George Comfort threatened to terminate. (650762/2022) Crain’s reported on that case in February.

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

Whole Foods has not yet responded in the latest action. According to the new complaint filed by George Comfort, the “Landlord brings this action against Whole Foods for nonpayment of rent. In fact, Whole Foods has never paid any rent. Whole Foods has entirely defaulted in its obligation to pay rent since the agreed rent commencement date of November 14, 2021 despite having received a nonpayment notice from Landlord in February 2022. Instead, Whole Foods ignored Landlord’s notice and filed a premature application for a Yellowstone injunction (despite the fact that Landlord had not in fact threatened termination of the Lease).”

The lease covering 57,000 square feet was signed in June 2019 and runs for 20 years, and has an annual base rent of $4.5 million per year for the first five years, according to the complaint.

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