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New York

Boymelgreen faces suit over office space

Gotham Realty sues embattled developer for allegedly abandoning his offices at 30 Broad

More than two years after losing his Brooklyn offices, embattled developer Shaya Boymelgreen is facing an $818,000 suit from Gotham Realty Holdings for allegedly abandoning his office space at 30 Broad Street in Lower Manhattan. According to a lawsuit filed April 26 in New York State Supreme Court, Boymelgreen guaranteed a lease at the office tower for more than $14,653 a month, paying rent from June 2011 through February 2012. The developer failed to pay the rent starting in March, and the monthly payments were scheduled to increase to $15,093 starting in June 2012 and $15,545 starting in June 2013.

Boymelgreen’s company allegedly notified the landlord that it was exiting the lease in March 2012; however, the landlord says it refused to honor the early termination. The 370,000 square foot skyscraper, located near the corner of Exchange Place, includes 362,000 square feet of commercial office space and 7,200 square feet of retail.

David Ishay, owner of Gotham Realty, said that Boymelgreen had signed a guarantee to pay the rent at the building, where the developer operated from a small office.

“I have a personal guarantee, a good guy clause,” Ishay told The Real Deal.

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Boymelgreen, once one of the hottest residential developers in New York, was evicted by landlord Henry Weinstein in 2010 from Boymelgreen’s U.S. headquarters at 752 Pacific Street in Brooklyn. Boymelgreen, after leasing the space starting in 1999, sold his lease agreement to Forest City Ratner without the landlord’s permission as developer Bruce Ratner was preparing to break ground on his controversial Atlantic Yards project in downtown Brooklyn.

Boymelgreen also faced two additional suits totaling $22 million in March 2011, including a $21.5 million case from real estate investor Ben Ashkenazy and the other from the law firm of Saterlee Stephens Burke & Burke.

The landlord said he would continue to hold Boymelgreen liable for the remainder of the lease term at 30 Broad, resulting in the demand for a $903,613 balance, minus a security deposit of $85,360.

Boymelgreen could not be reached for comment.

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Real Estate LawsuitsShaya Boymelgreen