Developer Maurice Mann is facing a lawsuit for allegedly failing to pay $400,000 in commissions and fees to Blue Rock Properties, a Manhattan-based brokerage that in 2007, helped arrange financing for the acquisition of the Apthorp on the Upper West Side.

Mann, the general partner of Mann Realty Associates, led the investment group that acquired the landmark rental building, at 390 West End Avenue, for a record $426 million. Mann has since lost the role of managing partner at the Apthorp to Africa Israel, the Israeli real estate and diamond conglomerate led by billionaire Lev Leviev.

Leviev is currently awaiting word from the New York State Attorney General about whether he will declare the condominium plan effective, amid serious concerns about whether the developer was able to find enough buyers to make the building financially viable. [more]