These guys will never eat lunch in this Town together again.
Two of the city’s most successful fortysomething businessmen, who together built one of the city’s top real-estate brokerages, have seen their relationship turn toxic and are now locked in a bitter battle for control of the firm.
Andrew Heiberger, 46, who founded Town Residential in 2010, finds himself in a blood feud with 49-year-old Joe Sitt, who he brought in as an equity partner.
Each owns 50 percent of Town, which has 600 employees and 10 offices, and did around $1.9 billion in business last year.
Both are known for their strong, scrappy personalities and egos, and both were already successful in their field before they teamed up.
Heiberger sold an earlier brokerage, Citi Habitats, to NRT, parent of The Corcoran Group, for a reported $49.6 million in 1994.
Sitt is the owner of Thor Equities, a real estate and investment firm.
Last month, Sitt fired Heiberger, who was the firm’s CEO, just days before his contract expired — and then locked him out of the offices.
The reason for the falling out is hard to discern.
Sitt claims Heiberger made promises about financial returns that were not met and alleges his one-time partner mismanaged the company.
Heiberger counters that the financial benchmarks could have been met if Sitt had accepted an offer to sell the company.
Whatever the reason, Heiberger raced to court after he was fired and last week won a temporary restraining order, which gave the former CEO access to his offices, email, books, records and reinstated him to the board.
The order also temporarily prohibited Sitt from forcing a sale, at least until the next court date on April 8.
But then Team Sitt fired Jacqueline Pestana, Heiberger’s executive assistant, Lisa Heiberger, his sister and the firm’s facilities director, and Heiberger’s driver.
The moves were simply “retaliatory measures,” Team Heiberger claims.
Someone remotely accessed her computer without permission and copied filed, Pestana told The Post.
When Pestana went to her office last week to retrieve the computer, a company executive hid it — and then called the cops, she added.
No charges were filed, but Pestana was forced to leave without the computer, she said.
Pestana was denied access to the computer because she was part of the financial mismanagement, Sitt loyalists counter.
Town is weighing legal action against Heiberger, sources close to Sitt said.
“What is most perplexing,” said Heiberger, “ is that he still calls me his dear friend and invited me to his 50th birthday party next week.”
In the meantime, some brokers have left Town for Douglas Elliman, a bigger firm.
“People are confused and demoralized. This type of behavior is very rude and unnecessary — all because he [Sitt] wants control of the company,” a source said.
“Joe Sitt is firmly committed to the success of the company and won’t be distracted by this sideshow,” a spokesperson said.