Co-op Corporation Claims Sponsor Can't Surrender Parking Spaces with Apartment Shares

Landlord cooperative corporation sued the sponsor who held unsold shares to certain apartments and garage spaces when the sponsor returned to the co-op shares of unsold parking spaces without returning apartment shares. The co-op claimed that the sponsor was acting in violation of the building's offering plan and proprietary leases. The court ruled for the co-op, finding that it wasn't required to accept solely the garage space shares from the sponsor. The sponsor appealed and won. It was undisputed that no executed proprietary lease existed for the unsold parking spaces. But, until March 2010, the sponsor paid maintenance charges for the parking spaces in question and the co-op accepted the payments, despite the absence of any proprietary lease for the parking spaces. But the controlling documents were ambiguous as to whether the sponsor could surrender only the unsold shares of the parking spaces. A trial was needed to decide what the co-op documents provided for.

North Shore Towers Apartments Inc. v. Three Towers Associates: 153 A.D.3d 632, 2017 NY Slip Op 06081 (App. Div. 2 Dept.; 8/9/17; Rivera, JP, Chambers, Roman, LaSalle, JJ)