Developer Neil Shekhter isn’t letting his legal troubles stop his construction plans.
The founder and CEO of NMS Properties, who is still facing a racketeering lawsuit brought by his former partner company, filed plans for an 89-unit apartment complex at 11001 Pico Boulevard on the Westside.
Shekhter wants to take advantage of the city’s Transit-Oriented Communities program, which gives property owners the ability to increase the size of their planned development in exchange for adding affordable units to their market-rate residential complexes. The planned construction has to be near a transit stop.
Shekhter wants to include 10 residential units for “extremely low income” renters. The development will also include around 7,700 square feet of open space, according to the filing.
The plans were submitted in Shekhter’s name through an LLC. He bought the 19,300-square-foot property in April 2015 for $8.25 million. The restaurant at that address was demolished last year and the space was rented to a Christmas tree market over the holidays.
Shekhter’s other recent business dealings haven’t been quite as cheery. He’s been battling former partner AEW Capital in court since 2014. The dispute has been over their joint investment in a nine-property portfolio spread around the Westside, mostly in Santa Monica. NMS Properties sued first, claiming that AEW backed out of an agreement to allow NMS to buy the Boston-based investment manager out a building.
AEW then claimed Shekhter forged documents related to the agreement. Last year, AEW filed a second suit claiming Shekhter violated federal racketeering laws and lied to banks, vendors, insurance companies, and “countless others,” regarding their business together. A judge denied Shekhter’s motion to dismiss last June.