The Texas-based house owners of a Midtown workplace tower purchased on-line at a bargain-bin worth are accusing the bottom landlord of icing them out of their deliberate office-to-residential conversion.
In a brand new lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York state Supreme Court docket, McKinney, Texas-based Thakkar Builders, owned by the Thakkar household, claims land proprietor Safehold wrongfully tried to terminate Thakkar’s 104-year floor lease at 135 West fiftieth Avenue because the developer labored towards a redevelopment with Nathan Berman’s MetroLoft.
The swimsuit comes after Safehold filed its own lawsuit final week in search of to eject the Thakkars from the 23-story constructing and terminate the bottom lease after the tenant allegedly racked up virtually $28 million in unpaid property taxes, curiosity and different penalties.
However the Thakkars allege they employed legal professionals to barter a cost plan with the Division of Finance that might enable them to pay the taxes in installments, which they declare was permitted below the lease. Safehold rejected the proposal and demanded instant cost, per the swimsuit.
The Thakkars say they proposed to resolve the tax arrears as a part of a broader recapitalization and redevelopment, in response to the swimsuit. They declare they started pursuing a residential conversion and introduced in Berman as a improvement accomplice.
However the relationship soured after MetroLoft allegedly sought to dilute the Thakkars’ possession stake whereas deferring its personal capital contribution, in response to the lawsuit. After the household ended talks with MetroLoft, the Thakkars declare Safehold continued to work with Berman behind the scenes.
Safehold issued the termination discover and filed its personal plans for the conversion — an software was filed on Could 12 with the Division of Buildings so as to add 32 flats on the property.
The Thakkars are in search of to dam the owner from terminating the bottom lease and are demanding greater than $500 million in damages.
The Thakkar household owns a number of companies in McKinney, a Dallas exurb, together with a Bollywood movie distributor, an insurance coverage enterprise and a tax workplace. The Midtown property was their actual property agency’s first actual property buy outdoors of Texas. They face a slew of current lawsuits in New York and Texas.
Representatives from Safehold and MetroLoft didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark, nor did the Thakkars’ legal professional.
The Thakkars purchased the constructing in 2024 after a two-day public sale on the web platform Ten-X. They acquired the leasehold for $8.5 million — roughly 97 p.c lower than the $332.5 million that UBS paid for the property in 2006.
Co-founder Sam Thakkar said in April that he deliberate to transform the higher ground of the constructing to residential, proceed to make use of the decrease flooring as workplace area and preserve current retail tenants remaining in place.
Isaiah Mitchell contributed reporting.
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