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Gotham Organization has been sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent that has gone unpaid.
An affiliate of Samco Properties, which owns 432 Park Ave. South, where Gotham has leased office space since 2015, filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court claiming Gotham owes it $200K in total unpaid rent, and $41K since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in New York in April, Crain’s New York Business reports.
Gotham claims it was within the rights of its lease to withhold the rent. There were “numerous deficiencies and incidents” with the office space and that it would withhold the payment until these issues were addressed, Gotham Chief Operating Officer Phil Lavoie told Crain’s in a statement.
Samco is asking the court to compel Gotham to pay its unpaid rent and legal fees.
Landlords have been taking their tenants — particularly retailers hit hard by the pandemic — to court to get rent for the past six months.
Vornado has filed lawsuits against Times Square retail tenants like U.S. Polo Association in August for $1.1M and Planet Hollywood for $5.5M last month. JEMB Realty sued its Herald Square tenant H&M in June, alleging the retailer owed the landlord $4M.
Tenants have been trying their luck in court too, as the pandemic pushed many retail tenants into financial distress: Nationally, many have been filing lawsuits in an attempt to exit their leases early.
Gotham isn't the only real estate company that has been sued for unpaid office rent in Manhattan this year. Paramount Group sued tenant Douglas Elliman for $273K in back rent at 712 Fifth Ave. in June.
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