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Two New York real estate moguls promised potential buyers a breathtaking $80 million penthouse on New York’s Billionaires’ Row, boasting stunning views of Central Park. Instead, the buyer got a front-row seat to a neighboring skyscraper — and now, the buyer is taking legal action.
According to the complaint, developers Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf of Zeckendorf Development, LLC allegedly rushed to close the deal before news broke about a planned 37-story skyscraper next door that would erase the penthouse’s premium-priced park view.
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The lawsuit, filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York on March 24, calls the Zeckendorf brothers’ actions a “brazen fraud.”
At the heart of the lawsuit is a lavish 8,310-square-foot penthouse at 520 Park Avenue, advertised as a boutique luxury penthouse with “spectacular views.” The property’s listing described an elegant living room and sprawling primary suite, both offering panoramic vistas of Central Park.
The property also boasts five bedrooms, six baths, one powder room, a custom wet bar and even a private sunroom.
The property came with a catch — the sellers allegedly knew the penthouse’s “defining feature,” its unobstructed view of Central Park, was doomed.
A new skyscraper, already in the pipeline by Extell Development and Solid Management, is set to rise in front of those prized windows. Yet, according to the complaint, the developers kept this critical detail under wraps, offering only vague disclaimers about future construction.
“The west-facing windows on some apartments ‘are considered amenities that potentially can be lost,'” according to the lawsuit. “[N]o representation is made that future construction in the neighborhood surrounding the property will not result in obstruction of the views from any windows and/or terraces in the building.”
Once news of the high-rise surfaced, the Zeckendorfs allegedly scrambled to finalize the sale before the buyer caught on. The deal closed in late November for $78.9 million — far less than the $130 million the developers originally hoped to fetch.
Now, the buyer is seeking significant legal relief, including damages (actual, consequential, restitution and punitive), rescission of the sale, reimbursement for legal fees and any other relief the court deems fit. The lawsuit also demands pre- and post-judgment interest.
The Zeckendorf’s attorneys, Terrence Oved and Darren Oved of Oved & Oved LLP issued a statement: “Our clients reject these baseless allegations as a shameless attempt to renegotiate a binding agreement. We are confident the court will readily see this for what it is — a transparent case of buyer’s remorse masquerading as a complaint — and readily dismiss it.”
The Zeckendorfs have been in the real estate industry for over 23 years. The brothers have developed over 2,000 condominium apartments, with some of the most notable projects including 50 United Nations Plaza, 18 Gramercy Park Condominium, Fifteen Central Park West Condominium and Millennium Tower located at 101 West 67th Street.
