Atlas Capital sues “penny-pinching” LA Times owner over rent

Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, overstayed his welcome at the publication’s former printing plant in Downtown — then left the 26-acre plant in “shambles,” according to a lawsuit.

Alameda, an affiliate of New York-based Atlas Capital Group, has sued the Times owner for $24 million, alleging he failed to pay rent while leaving the building at 2000 East 8th Street last fall in “gross disrepair,” the New York Post reported.

Atlas claimed the biotech businessman and lease guarantor NantMedia — a unit of NantWorks, founded by Soon-Shiong — breached the rental contract for the plant. It also claimed it left it covered in “toxic ink stains,” “holes in the walls,” “torn-up floors” and other damage such as “active leaks,” according to the complaint.

Photos obtained by The Real Deal, taken immediately after the tenant abandoned the premises

Despite having a lease that would give the LA Times the option to continue operating the plant until 2042, Soon-Shiong “elected to abandon the facility” to cut costs, the lawsuit says.

The lease was terminated last March, with the newspaper expected to leave the plant by Aug. 31 — in good condition. Instead, the L.A. Times didn’t vacate the plant until Sept. 30, “reneging on the lease obligations and leaving it in shambles and unsecured,” the lawsuit claims.

Photos obtained by The Real Deal, showing the process of cleaning the extensive amount of ink off of various surfaces of the building

The Atlas affiliate estimated it cost the company millions of dollars to return the plant to its original condition — along with more than $20 million in accrued holdover and future holdover rent. Its lawyers also called out Soon-Shiong for alleged “mismanagement and penny-pinching.”

An unidentified attorney for the Times and NantMedia called the claims outlined in the lawsuit “meritless.” “Our client looks forward to resolving the matter,” the lawyer told The Post.

In 2019, Atlas Capital bought the three-story, 648,000 square-foot printing plant surrounded by 15 acres of parking for $240 million, or $370 per square foot.

Two years later, Atlas proposed redeveloping it into a $650 million entertainment studio complex, with 17 soundstages, 300,000 square feet of production facilities and 212,000 square feet of offices, plus a nine-story parking garage.

In 2022, the Los Angeles Planning Commission approved the 830,000-square-foot project at 8th and Alameda streets.

— Dana Bartholomew