A former co-owner of Central Avenue Nissan is suing to stop a $20 million sale of the car dealership’s real estate in Yonkers.
Mark Brennan asked Westchester Supreme Court to declare that the pending sale by the landlord, J.M.E. Associates, is unlawful because he has not consented to the deal.
“Brennan’s consent is necessary,” the Nov. 7 complaint states, “to satisfy the J.M.E. operating agreement’s requisite voting threshold.”
J.M.E. was formed in 2003 and it paid $2.3 million for a vacant parcel of land at 1919 Central Park Avenue, Yonkers. The partnership included Brennan, who now lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Jonathan Grant, of Rosyln, Nassau County, and Ernest Salerno, formerly of Tucson, Arizona.
Last year, Brennan sold his shares in Central Avenue Nissan to Grant and Salerno for $3 million, according to the complaint. But he retained his interest in J.M.E. and he receives about $32,000 a month in rental income.
On Oct. 30, J.M.E. agreed to sell the real estate for $20 million to TAG Holdings, an affiliate of the Tasca Automotive Group in Cranston, Rhode Island.
(Tasca operates several dealerships throughout Westchester, including Audi, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Ford, Kia, Hyundai, Mazda, Subaru, and Volkswagen stores.)
The deal was signed by Grant and by Janis Salerno, representing the estate of Ernest Salerno, who died this past June. Brennan’s name is not on the contract.
He claims the deal is unlawful because J.M.E.’s operating agreement requires disposal of property to be approved by J.M.E.s managers, and by partners who hold at least two-thirds of the shares.
Only Grant and Brennan are managers, according to the complaint, so both must approve the sale.
Grant owns 45.5% of J.M.E., Brennan owns 30%, and the Estate of Ernest Salerno owns 24.5%, but, Brennan argues, the estate has no voting rights.
“Neither Grant nor the [Salerno] Estate, together or individually, have the authority, without Brennan,” the complaint states, to sell the real estate.
Brennan is asking the court to declare the deal unenforceable and disallow a sale unless he consents.
Efforts to find contact information for Grant, to ask for his side of the story, were unsuccessful.
