Hell's Kitchen Developer Damaged, Cheated Neighbors, Suit Says

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — The owner of a Hell's Kitchen rental building has filed suit against the group behind a neighboring development, alleging they caused severe construction damage and skipped out on paying agreed-upon fees.

The suit was filed Wednesday in state court by the owners of Mantena, a 12-story rental at 431 West 37th St., between Ninth and 10th avenues that includes the upscale market Brooklyn Fare. Since 2018, the lot next door to Mantena has been under construction by Happy Living, Brooklyn-based developers who are turning it into a 10-story condo.

Around then, Happy Living signed a contract with Mantena, allowing them to encroach onto their neighbors' property by putting up a sidewalk shed and installing some protection for vulnerable spots at risk of being damaged during construction.

"Prior to the Defendants’ construction, the Plaintiff, as the Adjacent Owner, never experienced any disturbances from their neighbors," attorneys for Mantena wrote. "However, this dramatically changed when the Defendants purchased and subsequently began the development of the neighboring property."

Now, Happy Living has overstayed their welcome, the plaintiffs argue: construction material remained in place as of August 2021, even though it was supposed to be gone by January. Under the contract, Happy Living now owes Mantena more than $177,000 in monthly license fees for their use of the adjacent site, plus $33,900 in holdovers for their late departure, the suit alleges.

Happy Living also owes more than $7,300 to repair a ninth-floor terrace at Mantena that suffered paint and debris damage during construction, and more than $2,300 to cover a five-day hotel stay for residents of that ninth-floor apartment who had to be relocated.

That was just one example of negligent construction work that has plagued neighbors the development, the lawsuit alleges, with other examples including water infiltration and a lack of weatherproofing.

The suit also names D Solnick Design & Development, a Wyoming-based company that co-owns the construction site along with Happy Living. All told, the defendants owe Mantena over $262,100 in various various fees, according to the suit, which also requests $100,000 in negligence damages.

Happy Living has faced legal challenges before: a 2020 suit accused the company of defaulting on a $26 million loan for a Harlem development.

Patch was unable to locate contact information for Happy Living or D Solnick Design & Development.