Bushburg Sues Civil Rights Organization in Rent Dispute

The National Urban League left Bushburg Properties and its conversion of 80 Pine Street months ago, but not without skipping out on its rent, according to a lawsuit filed by the developer.

Bushburg is suing the civil rights nonprofit for allegedly failing to pay rent for the last five weeks of its lease, Crain’s reported. The landlord alleges the National Urban League defaulted on more than $400,000 in payments.

Filed in New York state Supreme Court, the lawsuit alleges the nonprofit’s lease expired on June 30, but the organization failed to leave until early August.

The nonprofit relocated to 121 West 125th Street in Harlem, a mixed-use project recently developed by Taconic Partners, the Prusik Group, L+M Development Partners and BRP Cos. The development includes 170 affordable housing units and the Urban Civil Rights Museum.

Bushburg did not comment to the publication on the suit, but the leader of the National Urban League threatened a countersuit.

“It is our position that Bushburg owes compensation to the National Urban League, due to the fact that a dangerous air quality issue rendered the premises uninhabitable for an extended period during 2025,” chief executive officer Marc Morial told Crain’s.

The lawsuit draws headlines to a Financial District development looking to make news for entirely different reasons.

Over the summer, Joseph Hoffman’s firm landed a $320 million construction loan for one of the city’s biggest office-to-residential conversion projects. Bridge City Capital and Deutsche Bank provided the financing for Bushburg’s partial conversion of the 1.2 million-square-foot building.

Bushburg paid $160 million in 2024 to buy the 40-story skyscraper from the Rudin family, which developed the property in 1960. The building was about half empty at the time of financing and Bushburg had already started converting floors 2 through 17 into 713 rental apartments.

— Holden Walter-Warner