A Williamsburg-based developer who last year acquired a vacant and dilapidated Fort Greene church is facing claims he allegedly cheated his business partners out of millions of dollars, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Manhattan state Supreme Court.
Wolfe Landau of Watermark Capital Group purchased the house of worship at 144 St. Felix St. for $15 million through an LLC named after the address, records show. According to the court documents, Landau was able to close on the deal only after securing about $11.4 million in loans from members of an entity called Bambh, with whom he entered into an agreement to split ownership of the property.
The members of Bambh, who are not individually named in the lawsuit, claim in court papers that they first met Landau early last summer, when he persuaded them to go in on the acquisition with him. Landau allegedly told them he didn’t have enough cash to finalize the deal, having made only a $3 million down payment — which he said he borrowed from a “hard money” lender — and needed the rest or else he’d lose it all, they wrote in court papers. According to a separate lawsuit filed by Landau months ago accusing Bambh of allegedly diluting his shares of their joint company, Bambh’s members are developers Harry Einhorn, Paul Jensen and Mark Rigerman.
Bambh’s members ultimately agreed to partner with Landau, initially giving him $8 million to close on the church, they said, and then an additional $3.4 million from another entity called Strekte NY, with whom they are affiliated. Bambh and Landau also relied on outside financing, including a $4 million short-term loan from CDK Lending and a $10.5 million loan from S3 Capital, to refinance the property about two months after closing.
All told, the members of Bambh claim they gave Landau $11.4 million in exchange for equal ownership of the property and the understanding that they would work together to redevelop the neo-Gothic church between Hanson Place and Lafayette Avenue, court records show.
Part of that deal included Landau promising to seek the necessary approvals from the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission in order to redevelop the property, likely into residential, which Bambh claims in court papers that he failed to do.
Michael Paneth, an attorney from Brooklyn-based law firm Paneth & O’Mahony, which is representing Bambh, claims in court papers that its three members would not have worked with Landau had Landau not agreed to acquire the commission’s OK.
“Landau’s assurances that the necessary approvals would be obtained from the
Landmark Preservation Commission were critical to [the] agreement,” the 20-page complaint says.
Bambh is also accusing Landau of going behind its members’ backs by trying to negotiate the acquisition of additional nearby buildings, such as the Brooklyn Music School, as part of a larger development plan that the three members say they were not aware of.
The three plaintiffs are now seeking a court order to boot Landau from the LLC formed to purchase the St. Felix Street church and to get at least $15 million from him for the alleged breach of contract, claiming that he intentionally misled and duped the members of Bambh “in order to serve his personal financial interests,” documents show.
Neither Paneth nor attorneys from Inwood-based Berg & David and Murray Hill-based Herrick, Feinstein, both of which are representing Landau, responded to requests for comment by press time.
