Legal papers from HFZ’s disastrous attempt to build a $2 billion condominium by the High Line might end up stacked higher than the project itself.
The latest case was brought Friday by the original general contractor on what used to be called the XI, a twisting tower at 76 11th Avenue on the West Side.
Omnibuild sued HFZ Capital, its former managing member Nir Meir, its principal Ziel Feldman, loan broker Trimont Real Estate Advisors and project lenders Talos Capital, TCI Rep International and its parent, the Children’s Investment Fund. It also sued construction consultant Cumming Group and one of its 2,000 employees, Oliver Steeves.
The contractor, three of its executives, HFZ and Meir were indicted in February by the Manhattan district attorney in connection with alleged frauds totaling $86 million. The gist of the criminal case is that Meir skimmed money lent to the project with help from the others, but Omnibuild insisted from the outset that it was a victim of the scheme, not a perpetrator.
The contractor said Friday that others’ negligence left it unaware of HFZ’s theft until February, resulting in its doing millions of dollars’ worth of work for which it was never paid. Omnibuild worked on the XI through June 2020, expecting to be paid from loan proceeds that lenders on the project knew would never come, its lawsuit alleges.
“We will take any appropriate step necessary to defend ourselves against those that put our great employee-owned company at risk,” Omnibuild said in a statement Friday.
Feldman, for his part, has also claimed to be a victim — of Meir, whom he has called a “sociopath.” Meir, who filed for bankruptcy in Florida and did not post bail, has been held at Rikers Island since late February.
Feldman and HFZ’s lawyer, David Scharf, did not immediately comment on the lawsuit, nor did TCI and Cumming Group. Trimont, based in Atlanta, declined to comment.
The XI project was foreclosed on by TCI in 2021 and taken over by other developers and renamed One High Line.
According to its lawsuit, Omnibuild repeatedly notified HFZ and its lenders that payments due had been missed, yet were urged by the defendants to keep working and that the money would come through. It never did.
The contractor also alleges that it repeatedly reported “financial issues and irregularities” to the defendants, who failed to investigate them. Omnibuild’s lawsuit singles out Cummings and Steeves for allegedly imploring it to continue working on the XI despite knowing, or failing to find out, that no payment for that work was forthcoming.
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