Russian Billionaire Sues Over "Attic-Like" $50 Million Plaza Penthouse

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed)
Sep 13th 2008 at 6:02PM

Russian billionaire Andrei Vavilov, who signed a $53.5 million contract sight unseen for an ultra-luxe penthouse at New York's famed Fifth Avenue hotel-turned-apartment building The Plaza (above), is suing the developers claiming the finished product is more like a tenement. Vavilov made the purchase prior to completion of the Plaza's $500 million renovations last year based on CAD models and a video presentation, which promised the residence would be the "epitome of luxury."

However, in a just-filed lawsuit, Vavilov accuses Plaza devloper El-Ad Properties and real estate agents Stribling & Associates of pulling a "bait-and-switch" in which they secretly made "unilateral and impermissible design changes" to the plans, the London Telegraph reports. He claims they made the apartment smaller, shrank the size of its windows and lowered the ceilings turning it into an "attic-like" garret instead of an elegant aerie.

Vavilov, who reportedly made $600 million six years ago when he sold his Russian oil company, Severnaya Neft, is demanding the return of the $10.7 million deposit he has already paid out and wants at least $20 million in damages for alleged breach of contract, fraud, deceptive trading practices and negligence. A lawyer for the defendants described his claims as "baseless".

Tags: Andrei Vavilov, AndreiVavilov, Fifth Avenue, FifthAvenue, New York, NewYork, Penthouse, Plaza, Russian billionaires, RussianBillionaires

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

caribbeauty Sep 15th 2008 7:54AM

The buyers have everyright to sue for a property that is not accurate on what was originally planed. Was there no walk through with their agents before going ahead with the closing? Or do they see this as an opportunity to flip? That is what Stribling get for representing the sellers without actually seeing the finished product. Buyers should always be forewarned when buying a property sight unseen.