470 Broome Street and Gary Barnett

The owner of an Italian tile company went to court in December to stop Extell Development’s Gary Barnett from allegedly “looting” a Soho condo conversion the two had partnered on.

Maurizio Placuzzi, the owner of Sicis, a high-end mosaic tile concern with a New York showroom at 470 Broome Street, filed an application for a temporary restraining order and injunction in New York State Supreme Court Dec. 12, 2009. The filing claims that Barnett was siphoning money from 470 Broome Development, the company he and Placuzzi had formed to convert the building, to Extell affiliates and projects.

Barnett engaged in a pattern of “looting the assets of the company by engaging in self-dealing designed to benefit other affiliates of Extell and Barnett,” then concealing these activities, the application claims.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the request, Barnett did this by “causing 470 Broome Development to pay expenses it was not liable to pay (including expenses wholly unrelated to 470 Broome Development’s operations and in fact related to other Extell projects.)”

The application asks that Extell provide Sicis with all current and future documents created in relation to the conversion, and that Extell be prevented from paying any bills or invoices, except for common charges and taxes, without permission from Sicis. Barnett called the allegations “nonsense.”
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The Real Deal held its holiday party last night at the Sicis Art Factory, at 470 Broome Street in Soho. More than 1,000 real estate professionals filled the four-floor showroom packed with mosaic designs covering entire walls in flower and animal patterns, hanging tile displays that looked like flying carpets and mannequins dressed in armor. Attendees included Bob Knakal and Paul Massey, co-founders of Massey Knakal; Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller Samuel; Michael Shvo, founder of the Shvo Group; Steven Siegel, chairman of global brokerage at CB Richard Ellis; and Tamir Shemesh, managing director of Prudential Douglas Elliman. While touring the floors of art and drinking champagne and sampling hors d’oeuvres, many of the real estate pros at the party talked about the state of the market and what they are up to. Here’s a sampling: Comments

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