Trump Organization Sues Dean & DeLuca For $16M In Unpaid Rent

Dean & Deluca's Soho Location, Which Opened In The 1970S, Was Shuttered Last Year.

In the latest legal drama for Dean & DeLuca, the president’s company has filed suit against it, claiming the luxury grocer owes its Wall Street landlord millions in unpaid rent.

The Trump Organization is suing the company for defaulting on a lease at 40 Wall St., Crain’s New York Business reports. The lawsuit — filed four months ago in Manhattan federal court — seeks to recover more than $16M. Dean & DeLuca has not yet responded to the filing. The company signed up to pay $1.4M each year for the 40 Wall St. space in 2015, but the Trump Organization claims it stopped paying in 2017.

“They’ve gone silent,” Jeffrey Goldman, an attorney for the Trump Organization entity known as 40 Wall Street LLC, told Crain's. “We’ll be seeking monetary damages.”

It is just one of a slew of problems the company is facing. It has been battling lawsuits from suppliers that claim they haven’t been paid. Last year, one New York City bakery claimed it was owed $86K for cookies sold to the store for which it was never paid, and a patisserie claimed it was owed $70K.

Last month, Dean & DeLuca closed its flagship store in SoHo, after closing all its other locations over a period of months, The New York Times reported, though it was not clear if the closure is permanent.

Dean & DeLuca’s owner, Thai real estate tycoon Sorapoj Techakraisri through his Pace Development Corp., paid $140M for the gourmet food chain back in 2014. At the time, the company said it would expand by hundreds of stores within two years. Plans to open in London were killed, and plans for a new store in Chevy Chase, Maryland, were also put on ice last year. Pace last month defaulted on an $88M loan, per Bloomberg.

Continue reading this story with a free account

Log in or register
Sign up for more articles like this
Subscribe to Bisnow's New York Newsletters
Related Stories

Federal Government To Sell Nearly 31K SF In Five Points: The Denver Deal Sheet

Avison Young Had Assets Frozen By Bank Over Unpaid Taxes

Philly Retail Momentum Spills From Rittenhouse Into Northern Liberties

Artificial Intelligence Companies Reshaping Dublin Office Demand As OpenAI Confirms HQ

Mars Factory Overhaul Stalls As Candymaker's Chicago Expansion Accelerates

Camden Property Trust Sells West Coast Portfolio, Clears $1.5B Target

How Long Island Projects Can Cut Through Red Tape And Community Opposition To Cross The Finish Line

Forget Buildings, Retailers Are Leasing Environments

Empire State Building Observation Deck Hemorrhaging Visitors, Value

Cortland, Pulte, INVH, Walker & Dunlop Execs Talk Changing Demographics, AI

America's War Machine Is Growing, Sparking A Defense Real Estate Boom

Boca Raton's New Leaders Throwing 'All Kinds Of Curveballs' At Developers