Vornado fights Sol Goldman family over Flushing mall ground lease where Sam Chang is subtenant

Vornado Realty Trust filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan yesterday alleging that its landlord, Sol Goldman Investments, is unfairly threatening to terminate the ground lease at the 205,100-square-foot mall at 40-21 Main Street, in Flushing, Queens, based on a series of alleged building violations. Sam Chang of McSam Hotel Group is the subtenant through a lease signed in 2009, and he operates the well-known shopping destination known as the New World Mall.

Crain’s New York reported on this dispute yesterday.

The lawsuit seeks what is called a Yellowstone injunction from the court, which allows a tenant to remain in place while the litigation proceeds. The complaint is seeking a judgment blocking the termination of the lease, it is not seeking money. The complaint does not disclose either how much Vornado pays in rent to Goldman or how much Vornado receives in rent from Chang. Chang is not a direct party to the lawsuit.

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

Case LINK

The Goldman family filed a similar case in 2021, when it sought an early termination on a ground lease in SoHo for technical violations, and a similar case from 2011.

The lease originated in 1967 among different parties and through various assignments, Goldman is the landlord and Vornado is the tenant. The current lease between Vornado and Sol Goldman Investments, also known as Solil Management or the estate of Sol Goldman, ends in January 2027 and has one option to extend for 10 more years, and no options beyond that.

Vornado by a letter dated March 12, 2025, informed Sol Goldman Investments that it sought to exercise the 10-year extension. By a letter dated May 29, 2025, Sol Goldman Investments notified Vornado of the alleged violations, and gave the REIT 30 days to cure the violations or it may elect to terminate the ground lease. That cure period expires in a few days, which is why Vornado filed this lawsuit.

The property

The mixed-use building in Flushing has 205,100 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 145 feet and is 206 feet deep with a total lot size of 45,500 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-3 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 2.43 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $41.1 million.

Prior sales and revenue

The 205,100-square-foot property generated revenue of $7.2 million or $35 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on July 27, 2012.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received $2,500 in ECB penalties and $8,760 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 Flushing, The bulk, or 45 percent of the 37.7 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space. In sales, Flushing has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $642.3 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 3rd highest in Queens. For development, Flushing has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 2nd highest in Queens. It had 2.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 11 of the 43 commercial properties representing 288,848 square feet of the 649,164 square feet. The largest owner is Hsueh Ying Wu, followed by Judson Realty Co. and then Kwok Hei Lee. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 22,906 square feet. It is a 39-unit, 22,906 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Hang Zhao with plans filed October 25, 2017 and permitted September 22, 2020.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Solil Management owned at least 256 commercial properties with 4,301 residential units in New York City with 8,866,618 square feet and a city-determined market value of $2.5 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $18 million in debt, borrowed from State Farm Realty Mortgage. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 36 percent of the 8,866,618 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with office properties next occupying 24 percent of the space. The bulk, or 70 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 15 percent of the space.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 40-21 Main Street, PincusCo identified five commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. One of those five items was a sale which Premier Equities bought the 13,242-square-foot, one-unit mixed-use building (K2) on 39-09 Main Street for $27 million from Riesenburger Properties on February 3, 2025. Of those five items, four were loans above $5 million totaling $46.5 million. The most recent of the four was Timothy Chuang in which borrowed $6.7 million from Preferred Bank secured by the 4,476-square-foot, two-unit mixed-use building (K2) on 40-34 Main Street on May 30, 2025.

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