Contractor sues Norden Lofts developer for $11.1M

A Brooklyn contractor who helped build the Norden Lofts in White Plains claims that the developer has refused to make the final $1.1 million payment.

Park Premium Enterprises Inc. accused Norben Lofts LLC and managing partner David Eckstein of fraud, in an Oct. 22 complaint filed in Westchester Supreme Court, and is demanding $11.1 million.

Norden Lofts is a six-story, 65-unit apartment building that opened in 2018 in a building that had previously been used by an electronics manufacturer, Norden Laboratories Corp. It is on Westmoreland Avenue next to the Metro-North Railroad tracks, in a light industrial area south of the White Plains train station.

Norben Lofts, of Suffern, Rockland County (the developer spells its name with a b instead of d) hired Park in 2016 to convert the building to apartments for $11.6 million, according to court records.

Following standard industry practice, the complaint states, Park submitted invoices as the project progressed. It also submitted signed waivers required by the developer’s bank that gave up its right to place a lien on the property to ensure payments. The bank then released funds to the developer to be paid to Park.

After the project was substantially done, Eckstein, of Monroe, allegedly asked Park to submit another lien waiver and assured Park that final payments were forthcoming.

Park submitted the waiver, the complaint states, and the bank advanced the funds to Norben Lofts. But Norben has allegedly refused to pay Park.

In February 2019, Aaron Lebovits, president of Park Premium Enterprises, filed a $1,068,402 lien in Westchester Supreme Court for work performed and materials supplied as of July 2018.

Norben allegedly responded by filing Park’s lien waiver with the court, “with the knowledge that the waiver was not valid.”

The waiver nullified the lien and cost Park the right to enforce payment.

Park sued Norben Lofts and Eckstein in 2019 for fraud and other charges.

This past September, Justice James W. Hubert dismissed the complaint as defective because Park had neither filed a summons nor proof that a summons was served to the defendants. He allowed Park to file a new action.

The new complaint mirrors the original, accusing Norben of fraud, breach of contract, larceny and other causes of action.

White Plains attorney Patrick M. Reilly, who represents Norben Lofts and Eckstein, did not reply to a request for their side of the story.

Park is represented by Brooklyn attorney Abigail Shvartsman.