Feil siblings settle dispute over $7B portfolio

UPDATED, May 18, 9:41 a.m.: The Feil siblings settled a years-long legal battle for control of the family’s multibillion-dollar real estate fortune under a power-sharing agreement.

Jeffrey Feil, Marilyn Barry and Carole Feil began exchanging lawsuits over their inheritance shortly after their mother Gertrude died in 2006. Now they decided to seek an armistice in part because continuing the fight would be too expensive, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“The parties have amicably resolved all of their disputes out of court and look forward to the continued growth of the business,” a spokesperson told the publication.

Under the terms of the settlement, the siblings agreed to guidelines on how to divide the profits from the Feil Organization’s [TRDataCustom] $7 billion worth of properties across the U.S. over the coming years. They also settled on a new governance structure. Jeffrey will continue to head the firm and can name a successor, but a board comprised partly of family members can wield tight control over his successor.

Sources told the Journal that the siblings still harbor plenty of animosity towards each other, but for Jeffrey the alternative of buying out his siblings’ 75 percent stake in the portfolio proved too costly.

In September the New York Post reported that the Feil Organization plans to convert an office building at 140 West 57th Street into condos.

The Feil family drama is just one among many of high-profile battles between storied New York real estate families, which The Real Deal explored in depth in 2013. Harry Macklowe and his son Billy, for example, have traded lawsuits over the years, and the Sitt brothers have sparred over the direction of the family firm. TRD also chronicled the fights between the Ring brothers and the Gottlieb siblings. [WSJ] — Konrad Putzier

(To view more properties owned by the Feil Organization, click here)

Note: the article has been updated to clarify the role of the company’s board.