A consultant who provided services for the long-stalled Pratt Landing real estate development in New Rochelle is suing the developer for $3.2 million.
Laura Kaufman of NFC Advisory Inc. accused Alexander Twining and Twinning Properties of breach of contract, in a complaint filed on Dec. 30, 2025 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
“Despite Kaufman having completely succeeded at the primary tasks assigned to her,” the complaint states, “Twining paid nothing.”
Alexander Twining lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut and Twining Properties is based in Manhattan, according to the complaint. Kaufman and NFC Advisory are based in McLean, Virginia.
The proposed Pratt Landing project calls for transformation of a dilapidated, 12-acre industrial site into a modern neighborhood, at Huguenot and Pratt streets on the shore of Long Island Sound.
Twining was having problems with the project, according to the lawsuit, when he hired Kaufman in 2018. Her job was to complete an environmental impact statement — a task that “can take well over a year” — and to prepare a zoning application.
She claims she completed both tasks in four months.
Kaufman says she was supposed to be paid $20,000 a month plus bonuses based on objectives, deadlines and the values of the work. She has calculated the fair market value of her services at $3.2 million.
The figure includes her consulting services for a $90 million Twining Properties project in New Haven, Connecticut.
Kaufman says she found an investor and co-developer for renovations of the former Winchester Arms factory. According to news accounts, the project has been completed.
Meanwhile, plans for Pratt Landing have stalled for nearly two decades.
In 2007, the city granted Forest City Residential the rights to develop the property. That project foundered, and in 2014 the city granted the development rights to Twining Properties.
In 2016, Twining Properties proposed a $300 million project with hundreds of residences, a hotel and commercial space, and restoration of the former Naval Armory structure.
This past July, the city’s Industrial Development Commission granted preliminary approval for tax subsidies.
Now the project is expected to cost $563 million, according to Twinings’ project application. Work would begin in October and be finished in late 2029.
