Antares’ first foray into New York City property acquisition is already landing the Connecticut-based real estate developer and investor in hot water. A broker who worked on its nearly $24.4 million purchase of a Chelsea development site has accused the firm of stiffing him on commissions.
Boutique commercial brokerage Nathaniel Christian Group filed suit in New York State Supreme Court on Oct. 31, claiming Antares failed to pay $600,000 in commissions to broker Nathaniel Christian.
Antares’ Joseph Beninati could not be reached for comment.
Christian claims he arranged Antares’ purchase of the 32,000-square-foot commercial building at 515 West 29th Street, between 10th and 11th avenues, as well as two packages of air rights tied to the property, which were bought from investor Peter Fine and the Related Companies.
Jackie Jangana of Great Neck, N.Y.-based Continental Worsteds tapped Christian to sell the site, which he had acquired for $12.1 million in 2007, according to property records.
Christian claims that Antares, which purchased the building in partnership with Bauhouse Group, later inked a agreement for Christian to represent them for a commission.
“I cannot express enough my disappointment in the clients and their betrayal in not paying the commissions due after all the hard work I did to make this deal happen for them,” Christian told The Real Deal.
Jangana, whom Christian described as a “gentleman,” was not named in the suit.
It was not clear exactly what Beninati plans to do with the building, although there are already approved plans with the Department of Buildings to convert the second through sixth floors to residential use.
Antares is the developer behind such mammoth office towers as 100 West Putnam Avenue in Greenwich, Conn. It lost that building to Torchlight Investors in 2012 after it defaulted on several loans attached to the property.