When Poorvesh Thakkar emerged because the bargain buyer of a Midtown office building, the subsequent logical query was: Who is that this man?
The Dallas-based developer had by no means bought property in New York earlier than shopping for the practically 1 million-square-foot workplace tower at 135 West fiftieth Road for $8.5 million and asserting plans for a sweeping office-to-resi conversion venture.
Thakkar could also be a stranger to New York actual property, however he’s obtained loads of expertise within the trade — and with authorized hassle involving his actual property initiatives.
The newest lawsuit got here on Could 11 when Safehold, the land proprietor of the Midtown Manhattan workplace tower, sued to eject Thakkar’s Thakkar Developers from the property, claiming the agency failed to satisfy its obligations beneath a long-term floor lease, leading to practically $28 million in unpaid property taxes, curiosity and different penalties. That’s along with February fraud costs from the Securities and Alternate Fee and a number of current lawsuits involving Dallas initiatives.
He’s combating the most recent wave of authorized hassle from an unassuming workplace within the far north Dallas exurb of McKinney. He welcomed The Actual Deal into his workplace, however refused to talk on the report about his enterprise dealings.
His devotion to mysticism and his Indian heritage is clear in his workplace decor, which features a statue of Ganesh, the god revered because the remover of obstacles. The Thakkar community of companies headquartered on the workplace additionally employs Poorvesh’s brother Saumil and his sister-in-law Vaishali.
Thakkar immigrated to the U.S. from India as a teen in 1995 and has, since then, lived various enterprise lives. Thakkar put himself by faculty in Memphis whereas working full-time in name facilities, he mentioned. After securing a Microsoft skilled certificates as a young person, he moved to North Texas and located work as an IT specialist in corporations together with Texas Devices and ultimately CBRE, his final employer.
Along with Thakkar Builders, his holding firm Excellent Group features a Bollywood movie distributor; a South Asian radio community; an insurance coverage enterprise; a tax workplace; and My EB Visa, an apparently defunct entity meant to assist overseas buyers achieve everlasting resident standing by the EB-5 program.
Thakkar Builders has had combined success in North Texas actual property. The agency is promoting entitled tons in The Avenue at Allen, its mixed-use growth on the intersection of State Freeway 121 and Alma Street, and in Mustang Square, a mixed-use venture on the intersection of 121 and Rasor Boulevard in Plano. It’s developed some single-family tons in Celina.
The agency deliberate to develop a resort in McKinney within the Craig Ranch development, however it offered the land with out progressing on the venture in 2022 after proudly owning it for 4 years. The Thakkar Builders web site describes plans to rework its movie show at 8505 Walton Boulevard in Irving into an leisure hub with video games like laser tag and a go-kart monitor, however renovations have stalled.
The brigade of lawsuits started a couple of years after Thakkar based Thakkar Builders in 2016.
There was the group of buyers that sued Excellent Group in 2020 in Dallas County District Court docket, claiming that the Thakkar household used buyers’ cash to buy land from themselves and pay their very own firm extreme charges. The events settled the go well with in 2024.
Final June, a lender sued the Thakkars in New York State Supreme Court, accusing the corporate of defaulting on a $35.7 million mortgage for a mixed-use growth in Allen. The events resolved their dispute in July.
In November, a New York lender, Itria Ventures, sued a number of Excellent Group corporations in Collin County District Court docket, alleging that the Thakkars had defaulted on a mortgage. The case was resolved the next month.
The U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee charged Poorvesh and his brother Saumil Thakkar with alleged actual property providing fraud in February, claiming the pair misled buyers in a Excellent Group actual property fund. The case is tied to the corporate’s 2020 litigation. The Thakkars haven’t filed a response within the case but.
In the identical month, two Indian buyers sued them in Collin County District Court docket, alleging that the brothers lured them into investing $1 million in an EB-5 resort venture that by no means materialized. The Thakkars haven’t responded to this go well with but, both.
The Safehold lawsuit strains Thakkars’ technique of peaceable out-of-court settlement. His authorized pivot is already evident in a countersuit he filed towards Safehold in New York Supreme Court docket Wednesday.
Learn extra
Land purchases inch embattled Thakkar family’s Mustang Square closer to completion
Safehold seeks to eject Texas family from Midtown tower bought on Ten-X
Thakkars resolve suit, secure $30M refi for Allen mixed-use project
