Mark Harounian seeks $2M in partial payment of $8.9M judgment from father in extended family dispute

Mark Harounian filed a lawsuit yesterday in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan asking a judge to order his father Jacob Harounian and his wife Violet to turn over $2 million as a partial satisfaction of an $8.9 million judgment the court handed down in 2023. That was the result of a 2017 suit Mark filed alleging his father Jacob took $5 million from the account of United Hay LLC, a partnership controlled by Mark, which owns the rental buildings at 227 East 50th Street and 231 East 50th Street.

Despite the judgment, Mark alleges in the new filing that no money has been paid. His father was 93 in December 2020 and by December will be 97.

Case LINK

Jacob Harounian, who emigrated from Iran in the 1970s, was a successful rug merchant who also amassed a significant real estate portfolio, as The Real Deal reported last month in an article on the ongoing family dispute. His relationship with his son Mark deteriorated and by 2017 Mark had sued his father, and the next year, Jacob sued his son, 450615/2019, alleging Mark was improperly using family money for personal consumption. That case has not yet yielded a judgment and remains ongoing. The $8.9 million judgment arose from the 2017 case, 657310/2017.

According to the new action, “United Hay seeks an Order directing the turnover of over $2 million arising from Jacob and Violet’s surreptitious and fraudulent scheme to hide funds from United Hay, initially by placing those funds in bank accounts purportedly in Violet’s name and, now, through their annuity contract with New York Life.”

The new action continues, “In the Conversion Action, Jacob was held liable for his wrongful conversion of $5 million from United Hay’s bank account in December 2014 (the “Converted Funds”).” underlying action entitled United Hay, LLC v. Jacob Harounian, Index No. 657310/2017. United Hay’s membership at all relevant times has been as follows: (i) me (17% member); Mehrnaz Homapour (my sister and Shahriar’s wife) (17% member); Mehrnosh Piroozian (my other sister) (17% member); the Mark Harounian Trust (21% member); the Jacob Harounian Family Trust No. 1 (for the benefit of me and my children) (14% member); the Jacob Harounian Family Trust No. 2 (for the benefit of Mehrnaz and her children) (7% member); and the Jacob Harounian Family Trust No. 3 (for the benefit of Mehrnosh and her children) (7% member). Jacob (my father) is not, and at no relevant time has been, a member or manager of United Hay. Shahriar (my brother in-law) is not, and at no relevant time has been, a member or manager of United Hay.”

The property

The elevator building with 21 residential units in Midtown East has 14,579 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 29 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,908 square feet. The zoning is R8B which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.9 million. The most recent loan totaled $8.4 million and was provided by JPMorgan Chase on December 21, 2021.

Prior sales and revenue

The 14,579-square-foot property generated revenue of $679,083 or $47 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received $100 in OATH penalties in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Midtown East, The majority, or 81 percent of the 62.6 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 7 percent of the space. In sales, Midtown East has the 5th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.7 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown East is the 2nd most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 16.5 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 26 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 11 of the 28 commercial properties representing 627,328 square feet of the 869,358 square feet. The largest owner is Dennis Riese, followed by Dominick Sannino and then Durst Organization. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Harounian Enterprises owned at least four commercial properties with 115 residential units in New York City with 75,029 square feet and a city-determined market value of $26.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $23.9 million in debt, borrowed from JPMorgan Chase. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 81 percent of the 75,029 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 19 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Mark Harounian, head officer and Manuel Cifuentes, site manager. The business entity is United Hay LLC.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.