Stradley Ronon sues developer for $700K in allegedly unpaid legal fees

A Philadelphia real estate developer who helped re-invigorate North Broad Street with an apartment conversion that included the restaurant Osteria and had ambitions of breathing new life into the Divine Lorraine has been sued by a law firm claiming it’s owed more than $700,000 in legal fees.

Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young filed a lawsuit Aug. 12 in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia against Eric Blumenfeld, EB Realty Management Corp. and 11 other of its affiliated companies. Stradley Ronon said in court papers that it conducted work for the developer beginning in March 2012 until October 2013.

The law firm said it was originally owed $787,171.56 and an arrangement was struck last October where Blumenfeld and his company would make a series of payments to pay the bill, according to court documents filed by the law firm.

EB Realty was expected to make an initial $50,000 payment and then additional $10,000 monthly payments. The $50,000 installment was made in November but no additional payments followed, the suit said. The outstanding amount allegedly owed to the firm is $737,171.56.

EB Realty and the defendants “have failed to remit payment for the amount due…,” for legal services that they received, the suit said.

“I think this is going to be resolved today or tomorrow,” Blumenfeld said in an interview. “I think it will resolve quickly.”

Blumenfeld was a pioneer of sorts when he bought 640 N. Broad St. in 2004. He converted the building into 265 loft apartments and opened Marc Vetri’s Osteria on the ground floor.

That project helped spark other conversions along North Broad and inspired Blumenfeld to take on more projects along the street with a goal of totally transforming it. What followed was converting the former Wilkie Buick property at 600 N. Broad St. into a mixed-use project.

Blumenfeld then set his sights on the Divine Lorraine, a hulking, vacant property that developers have taken a stab at over the years but those attempts never amounted to much. Blumenfeld is confident he can pull it off and has plans to convert the building into apartments with some restaurants and retail. He is working through some design and pricing issues and expects to have “a shovel in the ground soon.”

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal