Sale at Greene Street #PHABCE

Ken Nahoum has been known in downtown social circles for his celebrity photography and music videos; his companion, a Victoria’s Secret model; his great season seats at Knicks games; and his collection of penthouses at 95 Greene Street in SoHo. But Mr. Nahoum has not been so roundly admired inside the confines of 95 Greene. In a cautionary tale of the gravitational pull that one owner can have on... [more]

Ken Nahoum has been known in downtown social circles for his celebrity photography and music videos; his companion, a Victoria’s Secret model; his great season seats at Knicks games; and his collection of penthouses at 95 Greene Street in SoHo. But Mr. Nahoum has not been so roundly admired inside the confines of 95 Greene. In a cautionary tale of the gravitational pull that one owner can have on a building, Mr. Nahoum and his companion, Basia Milewicz, are being sued in State Supreme Court in Manhattan by the condominium, which says they owe $40,000 in common charges and late fees. Mr. Nahoum and Ms. Milewicz own roughly one-fifth of the building’s interest, so the arrears have forced the condo board to raise charges for everyone else, according to Jesse Newhouse, the board president. The board has become so riled up that that it removed Mr. Nahoum’s name from the building’s intercom and changed its bylaws to prevent anyone who is more than 60 days late on payments from using the elevator. Mr. Nahoum can ride the elevator to his penthouses, for now, because the building has yet to install an electronic access system that would allow it to keep him out. “When someone doesn’t pay,” Mr. Newhouse said, “essentially oil is not going to get paid for, or Alvin, who is our handyman, is not going to get paid.” In court papers, Mr. Nahoum has denied he is in arrears. He declined to comment for this article, at one point canceling an interview he had scheduled. Still, property and court records paint a rich portrait of Mr. Nahoum’s rise and steady descent. The couple made its first purchase in the building in 1999 when Ms. Milewicz bought Penthouse B, a 1,231-square-foot space, for $1.4 million. Mr. Nahoum later bought Penthouses A and E and made plans to turn the three apartments into what Buildings Department records show was a 5,100-square-foot area where he could live and work. The couple topped off its real estate by buying Penthouse C for $1.66 million in 2003. Mr. Nahoum’s ambitions for a grand home were marred by problems. He sued a lawyer who had worked on his renovation plans, later dropping the suit, and a separate lawsuit against an architect was dismissed. The architect, Arpad Baksa, filed a lien for $7,060 that he said Mr. Nahoum owed him; they reached a settlement. Mr. Baksa said Mr. Nahoum was so verbally abusive that he quit, which he said was a first in a 27-year career spanning 1,700 jobs. “After awhile, you just say that’s enough,” Mr. Baksa said. Soon after the renovation was finished, Mr. Nahoum tried to sell the property. In 2005, The Wall Street Journal reported that the couple had put what had become a 12-room penthouse on the market for $25 million. According to StreetEasy.com, Mr. Nahoum put the fourth penthouse, Penthouse C, up for sale in 2008 with the Corcoran Group for $3.95 million. He then briefly listed it in 2009 with Brown Harris Stevens for $2.75 million. But the apartments did not sell, and in summer 2009, JPMorgan Chase and the Bank of New York started foreclosure proceedings on the four apartments, according to PropertyShark.com. The cases remain open. Mr. Nahoum and Ms. Milewicz eventually stopped paying their common charges, according to the board’s lawsuit, but even so, Mr. Nahoum expressed interest in running for the board, Mr. Newhouse, the board president, said. Residents have grown especially angry because they still see Mr. Nahoum on TV in some of the most expensive seats at Knicks games, said Robert Braverman, the board’s lawyer. The board filed its suit in November, saying Mr. Nahoum and Ms. Milewicz owed $36,735 in common charges and late fees, an amount the building says is now around $40,000. The penthouses are not officially for sale. But on Feb. 10, Ryan Serhant, an agent at Nest Seekers International, held a brokers’ party at Mr. Nahoum’s larger penthouse that was filmed for the Bravo program “Million Dollar Listing.” On Feb. 17, the building’s residents approved the bylaws on removing names from the intercom and cutting off elevator access. On April 4, Mr. Newhouse said, he met with Mr. Nahoum in Penthouse C, which was bare except for two office chairs. He said Mr. Nahoum blamed him for turning off his power, which Mr. Newhouse said only Consolidated Edison could do. He said Mr. Nahoum had said his neighbors were against him. Mr. Newhouse explained why this might be. He said he told Mr. Nahoum that failing to pay his common charges was “not a legitimate or legal way to address your problems.” Sheelagh McNeill contributed research. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/nyregion/12appraisal.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=cONDO%20HIGH-PROFILE&st=cse [less]