Gotham Organization sued for unpaid rent at Park Ave South office

Developer Gotham Organization is facing a lawsuit over nearly $187,000 in outstanding rent at its 432 Park Avenue South office.

An entity tied to Samco Properties — 432 Park South Realty Co LLC — claimed that Gotham has not paid the rent for its office since April, according to a lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court on Wednesday. Gotham signed the lease for the property in 2015, and had been paying $41,000 per month in rent. Crain’s first reported the suit.

In a statement to Crain’s, Gotham’s COO, Phil Lavoie, said that the developer was advised to withhold rent “after several attempts to compel Samco to address numerous deficiencies and incidents at our office.”

“Gotham is currently in a dispute with its office landlord and has been advised by counsel to withhold rent until the landlord fulfills all of its obligations under the lease,” Lavoie said in the statement.

Samco did not provide a comment to Crain’s. In the suit, it’s asking that Gotham pay back the $187,000 in back rent, any interest accrued since April and legal fees.

In addition to the building at 432 Park Avenue South, Samco’s holdings in Manhattan include office properties at 333 Seventh Ave and 30 Irving place.

Gotham has both residential and commercial properties throughout the city, including the Hunter’s Point South complex in Long Island City and the Gotham West Market in Hell’s Kitchen.

[Crain’s] — Raji Pandya