76 Eighth Ave. (left) and 122 Greenwich Ave.
Tensions between the fledgling developer of a West Village office building and the wealthy residents of the condo next door have spilled into the open.
The development team, led by Plus Development, is at work on 76 Eighth Ave., a 10-story project at West 14th Street that has dragged on for years.
As part of the deal to construct the tower, Plus installed safety nets over two terraces at the luxury condo, 122 Greenwich Ave. And for depriving the terrace users of their sun, Plus promised to pay them at a rate of up to $4,000 a month.
But since fall 2021, when the netting went up, Plus has come up well short, according to a suit that was filed by the condo board at 122 Greenwich in Manhattan’s Supreme court on Friday. The condo is seeking $250,000 plus fees from the developer, which is also accused of damaging 122 Greenwich along the way.
Plus promised that owners would be “compensated for the use of their outdoor space during defendant’s construction project,” the suit says. But “defendant has failed to make the required payments.”
In March Plus did finally fork over $40,000, according to the suit. But the money does not cover all the fees owed to the owners of the two blocked terraces, nor any of the other charges due to the condo board for offering workers access to its property during the construction of 76 Eighth.
The agreed-upon rate for the terraces, which are on the sixth and 10th floors, was $4,000 a month in warmer weather and $2,500 a month in the winter, the suit says. The controversial nets came down in April.
The condo also accuses Plus of puncturing walls, removing railings and splattering concrete on its 11-story building, which features a wavy-glass facade.
In 2018 the 2-story deli that stood at 76 Eighth for decades was demolished. The next year, according to public records, a shell company bought the cleared site from Chun Woo Realty Corp. for $18 million. A Sang Lee signed the deed on behalf of the shell company, though Plus prominently features photos of the project on its website.
The developers have borrowed heavily to finance the project, with about $40 million in loans over the past three years.
Still, Plus, which appears to mostly focus on single-family projects on the West Coast, has faced a rough pandemic-era office market. Availability rates in Manhattan continue to hover around 17%, though Plus’ 30,000-square-foot tower does appear to have signed leases with a few small financial and media tenants.
The 30-unit 122 Greenwich, which is also known as 1 Jackson Square, was co-developed by Aby Rosen and Hines in 2009. The most recent apartment to sell in the doorman building, in August, was a penthouse with floor-to-ceiling windows for $5.6 million, which was close to its asking price.
Calls and emails to the Los Angeles-based Plus were not returned by press time, and no response to the suit has been filed yet. And Lee could not be reached. Also, Brendan Schmitt, a lawyer for 122 Greenwich's condo board, did not return a call for comment.
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