Longtime business partners Moishe Mana and Tony Cho are suing each other over a property sale in Miami’s emerging Wynwood neighborhood.
Mana, an Israeli businessman who intends to build a large arts-oriented project on 25 acres in Wynwood, and Metro 1 founder and president Cho had strong comments about the nasty litigation that dates back to February. The initial suit was filed by Mana, who claims Cho and associate Scott Alan Silver cut him out of a deal for the remaining parcel he needed to finish assembling the Northwest Second Avenue and Northwest Sixth Avenue development site.
In an interview with the Daily Business Review, Mana vowed to press on until Cho loses his professional brokerage license.
“I told Tony, ‘I met you on the way up, now I’m meeting you on the way down,” Mana said.
Cho countersued, accusing Mana of slandering him through the lawsuit in order to ruin his company.
“What’s happening is a personal vendetta because he now sees me as competition,” Cho said. “A lot of people just don’t want to see you succeed.”
Cho has become more active as an investor and developer in Miami’s urban core. He is involved in the Wynwood Gateway Complex project and formed a partnership with developer Avra Jain to acquire an industrial property in the city’s Little River neighborhood.
The newspaper notes that two other lawsuits against Cho are pending. [Daily Business Review] — Eric Kalis