While calling a real estate management and development companys case against longtime tenant Bank of America audacious, a New York Civil Court judge has ruled that the landlord, Solow Building Co., can ask BoA to leave the building.
Judge Joan M. Kenneys ruling was based on a lawsuit that Solow has brought against longtime nemesis BoA, according to news reports last week.
Solow, a Manhattan real estate giant, and Bank of America, the nations No. 3 bank, have repeatedly battled it out in court over renovations, electricity costs and other landlord/tenant-related disputes.
This time, Solow argued, it should have the right to evict Bank of America, should its former broker Ted Sihpol be found guilty of securities fraud. Solow owns the famous building in question, 9 West 57th Street, where Bank of America is an anchor tenant, as well as a number of other landmark and architecturally renowned buildings that dot the Manhattan skyline.
Solow based its case on a law that gives real estate owners the right to evict drug dealers and prostitutes. Judge Kenney has stayed the case until the Sihpol trial is over. The Sihpol trial, being tried in Federal court by a jury, is expected to be over by mid-June.
New York Law Journal first broke the story on the Solow lawsuit last Monday.
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