Brown Harris Stevens agent Wendy Maitland and One Madison Park

The developers of Flatiron District condominium One Madison Park are facing a flurry of lawsuits alleging they failed to pay back millions of dollars in loans and deposits to a number of high-profile investors, including Brown Harris Stevens’ Wendy Maitland, the building’s original listing broker, and Charles Milite, president of the Gotham City Restaurant Group. Maitland, a senior vice president at BHS, filed suit against Park Madison Associates in New York State Supreme Court Dec. 22, alleging that Ira Shapiro, who co-developed the building with investor Marc Jacobs (not the designer) under the name Slazer Enterprises, asked to borrow from her $300,000 in August 2009 to help pay for unpaid mechanics liens on the property. Shapiro told Maitland that he would receive money from another source, so Maitland agreed to lend the funds if the money was repaid within 24 hours, according to the complaint. Maitland made two $100,000 wire transfers into Shapiro’s account between Aug. 19 and Aug. 20, the complaint says, and then made a third wire transfer of $100,000 to Five Star Electric, an Ozone Park-based contractor. An official from Five Star confirmed that it was a contractor at the building, but did not have any further comment on the mechanic’s liens or the case. [more]