Landlord accused Town of skipping out on rent in lawsuit

Four months after shuttering two of their Manhattan offices, Town Residential got into some hot water for allegedly skipping out on rent at their Union Square headquarters, according to a recently settled lawsuit.

A unit of Virginia-based Belvedere Management Co. filed the lawsuit in Housing Court against the brokerage on April 7, claiming that Town didn’t pay three months worth of rent in 2016. The brokerage pays $38,305 a month for its 6,500-square-foot space at 120 East 16th Street, meaning that it allegedly owed roughly $130,508, Crain’s reported. Just a few days after the lawsuit was filed, Belvedere announced that it had reached an agreement with Town and terminated its lawsuit. The terms of that agreement were not immediately available.

The rent dispute stemmed from ongoing renovations at the building, sources told the website. CEO Andrew Heiberger, who co-owns Town with Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities, pointed to Thor, telling Crain’s that he was “surprised to learn that Thor Equities and their counsel utilized the nonpayment of rent remedy to settle the [landlord-tenant dispute].”

In December, Town closed offices in the Meatpacking District and the Greenwich Village. At the time, Heiberger said the closures weren’t a product of financial troubles but a move toward greater company efficiency. Representatives for the Agency, a high-end boutique brokerage in Beverly Hills, were recently spotted touring Town’s offices, but it wasn’t clear if their visit was a harbinger of a future partnership, reconaissance or acquisition. [Crain’s] — Kathryn Brenzel