Alma Realty accuses contractors of diverting $7.5M from Peekskill and Yonkers projects
Queens developer Alma Realty claims that two Peekskill construction companies diverted $7.5 million from projects in Yonkers and Peekskill.
Affiliates of Alma Realty Corp. sued Green Works Projects Inc., TPK Construction & Design, Timothy Mahoney and the estate of Michael Mahoney last month in Westchester Supreme Court.
Alma Realty, a landlord and real estate development firm in Long Island City, founded by Efstathios “Steve” Valiotis, accused the Mahoneys of diverting funds for “other construction projects, investing in other businesses and for improper personal use.”
Attempts to contact Timothy Mahoney for his side of the story failed.
Alma hired Green Works and TPK in 2018 to work on a nine-story, 181-unit structure at 1 Park Place, Peekskill, for $40 million. Last year the Mahoneys were hired to work on a 91-unit apartment building on the site of a former elementary school in Yonkers.
Alma claims that it paid the construction companies nearly half of the Peekskill contract, $19.1 million, but only 30% of the work has been completed. It has paid nearly $1.5 million for the Yonkers project.
Green Works and TPK allegedly overbilled Alma for work performed, submitted invoices for work not performed or done poorly, submitted duplicate invoices for work done by another entity and failed to pay subcontractors and material suppliers.
Alma is demanding at least $7 million in damages on the Peekskill project and $500,000 for the Yonkers job.
Green Works and TPK were based in an office building owned by Alma next to the Peekskill construction site.
The Mahoneys are perhaps best known for their SSC High Rise Inc., a Pearl River concrete contractor that has worked on major projects in New York City. Michael Mahoney, 53, died in February.
In 2018, SSC pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the 2017 death of construction worker Juan Chonillo, 44.
The carpenter was working on a 60-story condo at 161 Maiden Lane near South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan. He and four other workers were on a platform that was moved, in violation of building code regulations. The platform got stuck. Chonillo unhooked his harness, tried to fix the jam, and fell 29 floors to his death.
SSC also admitted to city and state investigators to stealing $517,000 in overtime wages from employees and to under-reporting payroll by nearly $2 million so as to pay reduced premiums to the New York State Insurance Fund.
Alma is represented by Long Island City attorney Katie L. Bireley.