Life in Queens’ tallest condominium has not been what some of its unit owners expected.
Ninety buyers, representing fewer than 1 in 5 unit owners, filed a complaint this summer against Chris Jiashu Xu’s Skyline Tower in Long Island City with the attorney general’s office.
In a July 13 complaint obtained by The Real Deal, the owners cite issues with the 802-unit building’s marketing, management and construction, and raise questions about its sales and financial disclosures.
The 67-story luxury tower was the first to target a 10-figure sellout, with Xu projecting unit sales would add up to $1.1 billion. The complaint alleges that the sponsor’s sales and marketing agent, brokerage Modern Spaces, exaggerated the building’s success to a local website. Rapid sales can create urgency and inspire confidence among prospective buyers.
In an article published on Dec. 31, 2021, on QNS.com, Modern Spaces CEO Eric Benaim claimed Skyline had sold nearly 60 percent of its units, and was the city’s “best-selling luxury building” that year. But the complaint says the project’s year-end financial statement showed only 339 units had sold, or roughly 42 percent.
Benaim told The Real Deal that the 60 percent figure represented a combination of closed sales and units in contract.
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Also, a Dec. 13, 2021, amendment to the building’s offering plan stated that 366 units had sold as of Nov. 1. The complaint asks how the number fell to 339 as of Dec. 31.
“We question how many units have actually been sold because this affects Unit Owners’ payment of actual operating expenses,” the complaint said. “If the Condo Board cannot keep track of its units sold in official documents, how can we expect it to administrate payment properly?”
“We, together with our client and the sales team, are extraordinarily proud of this project and maintain that the sponsor has at all times acted in good faith and in full compliance with the attorney general’s regulations,” Adam Kriegstein, a lawyer for the project sponsor, responded in a statement.
The attorney noted that the concerned unit owners were granted full access to the condominium’s books and records and reviewed them. “Should the attorney general’s office wish to discuss the unsubstantiated claims in the letter, we welcome the opportunity,” Kriegstein added.
As of Aug. 18, roughly four years since sales began in the tower, 509 of its 802 units had sold.
The complaint also raised concerns about a flyer circulated by building staff regarding their right to organize for “the same wages, health care, job security, safety training, advancement opportunities and modest retirement afforded to over 35,000 building service workers across New York City.”
Skyline has suffered from construction issues, according to the complaint. There’s the delayed repair of the freight elevator, the delayed soundproofing of the mechanical room and punch lists that remain incomplete 120 days past closing.
The grievances listed in the complaint also populate the building’s Google Reviews, where users have submitted claims of structural defects, flooding and a lack of amenities.
Contract signings in Skyline slowed to a mere 35 in 2020 before bouncing back to 186 last year. As of August of this year, 116 have been signed