Harry Macklowe is not getting out of his dispute at 432 Park Avenue. At least, not anytime soon.
Macklowe had sought to escape the nasty quarrel between the luxury condo he co-developed with CIM Group and the board members over alleged defects. The saga has led to three years of back and forth litigation which has resulted in a case involving 4 million pages of documents.
The board alleges Macklowe breached his fiduciary duty and personally directed repair work on the tower toward a construction firm he owned. The board alleges the Macklowe-linked contractor performed “shoddy work.”
But Macklowe’s attorney called the allegations “pure sophistry.”
Macklowe filed a motion for summary judgment, a legal move to have a judge make a decision instead of going to trial, and sought to be compensated for attorney fees.
The motion did not please New York State Supreme Court Judge Melissa Crane. It appears as though the judge previously cautioned Macklowe’s legal team from going forward with the motion.
“Having moved for summary judgment prematurely, and despite being warned, Macklowe has now squandered his opportunity,” Crane wrote in her decision.
Crane added that Macklowe is not allowed to try again on the issue.
This seemingly technical legal matter has bigger implications: Macklowe, the octogenarian real estate titan, is now stuck in the litigation until the case goes to trial or a settlement is reached. The case involves dozens of parties and has produced at least 28 depositions thus far.
Macklowe and his attorney David Feuerstein did not return a request for comment.
Terrence Oved and Darren Oved of Oved & Oved, who represent the board of managers for 432 Park, said they “will continue relentlessly pursuing our client’s claims until the residents of 432 Park Avenue are made whole.”
The board of directors first filed suit against the developers in 2021, alleging the tower’s faulty design led to “horrible and obtrusive noise and vibrations.”
CIM and Macklowe argued the tower was safe and the condo owner’s claims were “vastly exaggerated.”
The building designed by Rafael Vinoly overlooks Central Park. It had a projected sellout value of $3.1 billion and attracted wealthy domestic buyers such as Howard Lorber and Joe Sitt.
Macklowe is also entangled in another dispute with former partner CIM. Macklowe accused CIM of swindling him out of $110 million in distributions. CIM alleged Macklowe lived a lavish lifestyle but refused to pay his obligations on loans.
CIM ultimately hired Greg Corbin’s Northgate Real Estate to market a foreclosure sale on Macklowe’s personal units in the building. Macklowe halted the foreclosure by putting the interests into bankruptcy. Macklowe and CIM reached an agreement to end the foreclosure by giving Macklowe six months to sell or refinance the units.
Macklowe could not land financing and has agreed to try to sell the units by May of next year, according to a recent bankruptcy filing.