Bank accuses Kondylis of civil fraud

Legal challenges for prolific architect Costas Kondylis who designed large residential towers such as the Trump Organization apartment buildings in Lincoln Square, are mounting.

A division of New York Community Bank is claiming in court papers filed this week that Kondylis as well as his former partners and related companies lied to the lender when the firm sought an extension of a revolving loan.

New York Commercial Bank, a division of Westbury, L.I.-based New York Community Bank, says in the suit filed May 3 in New York State Supreme Court that it lent the firm more than $1.29 million through the revolving loan, which was guaranteed by the company and its principals, under a false representation about the firm’s financial condition.

This suit comes a little more than a month after a state judge ruled that Kondylis former company Costas Kondylis & Partners owes rival firm Philip Johnson/Alan Ritchie Architects more than $119,000 in unpaid fees they sued for last year.

Kondylis professional partnership has been in flux as well. Kondylis dissolved Costas Kondylis & Partners last fall and created Costas Kondylis Design, while three of his former partners split off to form Goldstein Hill & West Architects, The Real Deal reported.

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The suit filed by New York Community Bank says Kondylis, his former companies including Costas Kondylis & Partners and former partners “obtained this financing based on certain fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions.”

The relationship with the bank extends as far back as 1997, and the revolving loan account was renewed annually until the loan went into default in the summer of 2009.

The bank claims in the suit that Kondylis told the financial institution in June 2009 that it had $7 million that clients would pay soon in so-called accounts receivable, but a month later the firm defaulted on its revolving loan and recently admitted that it had less than $2 million in receivables at that time.

An employee at Costas Kondylis Design said the architect declined to comment. Partners at Goldstein Hill & West did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the bank said its policy was not to comment on legal matters.