New York developer Joseph Moinian is suing Related Cos. and a group of lenders, accusing them of a “loan to own” scheme as he fights against a takeover of his newly renovated 3 Columbus Circle tower.
The suit, filed late Monday in Manhattan state court by lawyer Stephen B. Meister, accuses Related and the lenders of interfering with Moinian’s business dealings at the Midtown office building, also known as 1775 Broadway, thereby making it “un-leasable.”
Stephen Ross‘ Related, which owns the nearby Time Warner Center, bought the debt on the 26-story tower along with a unit of Deutsche Bank AG.
They sued last month to foreclose on the building, as Moinian missed payments last year.
Moinian has since made certain payments while he renegotiated the mortgage with special servicer CWCapital, also named in the lawsuit.
The suit seeks $600 million in damages and a stay of the foreclosure action.
Moinian also wants to be able to pay off the mortgage and have it transferred.
In addition, he is asking that defendants be barred from making “false and misleading” statements about the property.
Yesterday, Moinian and SL Green Realty Corp. announced the framework of an agreement to recapitalize the tower, a deal first reported in The Post.
The pact calls for Moinian to oversee the continued $100 million redevelopment and management of the 770,000-square-foot tower, with SL Green handling leasing.
SL Green will have a 49 percent stake and has agreed to provide backup financing.
However, for the SL Green venture to succeed, Moinian needs an injunction against the foreclosure action filed by Related’s partner, German American Capital Corp., a division of Deutsche Bank.
The suit also names original lender, Wachovia; loan trustee, Bank of America; special servicer, CWCapital Asset Management; and Related, which bought the mortgage and then reassigned it to GACC.
Moinian paid $130 million for the tower in 2000 and began renovations shortly before the credit crisis hit.
He stopped making payments in 2009 but the suit claims that starting in January, he negotiated a complete restructuring of the mortgage and made over $22 million in “good faith” payments — signing the agreement in June.
According to the suit, the lenders then received an offer from Related for the loan and “changed course.”
They refused to countersign the agreement, and demanded six-month demolition clauses with no tenant reimbursement for a 33,000 square-foot lease with HQ Global Workplaces and a 77,000-square-foot deal with talent agency William Morris, thereby killing the deals. The building is 80 percent vacant.
The lenders also demanded full payment in March but then refused to accept a payoff or reassign the $250 million mortgage without a $54 million pre-payment charge that was so “bogus” it was not even requested in the foreclosure action that was filed in September, right after Related bought the loan, the suit claims.
Related’s Ross has made no secret of his plans to take over the tower, demolish it and build an entirely new and larger tower with Nordstrom’s in the base topped by luxury condos overlooking the Museum of Arts & Design, Central Park and, of course, his Time Warner Center.
In a statement, Mark Walfish, counsel for Related Companies, said: “Our client believes that the lawsuit is totally without merit and is designed to attempt to excuse the borrower’s default in its mortgage obligations.
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A tenant in the building for the last 40 years, the nonprofit Sesame Workshop signed an 18-year renewal for 140,000 square feet on the 2nd to 4th and 8th floors at 1900 Broadway. The tower at 63rd St., also known as One Lincoln Plaza, sits across from Lincoln Center.
To seal the deal, building owners Philip Milstein and Abby Elbaum, principals of Ogden CAP Properties, will complete a major building overhaul, including new windows and new mechanical systems. Asking rent: $55 a foot.
Sesame Workshop, led by Susan Kolar, was represented by a Newmark Knight Frank team of CEO Barry Gosin, Moshe Sukenik and Robin Fisher.
Ogden CAP Properties was repped in-house by Lester Schwalb.
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Perceptive Pixel, the mak ers of those large multi- touch screens used in all the cops TV shows, signed a 10,000-square-foot lease on the 12th floor of 102 Madi son Ave.
The six-year deal had an asking rent of $36 a foot.
The firm is currently headquartered in a 4,000 square-foot sublease that ends soon at 111 Eighth Avenue, which also has higher asking rents, and is in the process of being sold to its large tenant, Google [see story, p. 33].
Alan Bonett of Adams & Co. Real Estate, represented the tenant, while Michael Dreizen, Andy Udis and Lee Ruth of Newmark Knight Frank represented the owners.
Lois@BetweenTheBricks.com