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Fashion brand Valentino owes its former landlords more than $207 million for breaking its Fifth Avenue lease nearly a decade early and leaving the place in shambles on its way out, new court papers allege.
The design house lost a court bid last month to break its lease with its Manhattan landlord, 693 Fifth Owner LLC, by the end of the 2020 — citing problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The rental-space contract was slated to run through 2029.
Now 693 Fifth alleges that Valentino — which was renting four floors of the building — used the pandemic as a pretext to try to break its lease. The landlord claims that the fashion brand was really just attempting “to mitigate market difficulties the House of Valentino had been suffering since well before the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit from Friday.
Meanwhile, Valentino has already signed a new lease for a Manhattan space at 135 Spring St., the court documents claim.
The landlord highlights in the new filing that Justice Andrew Borrok decided Jan. 27 to toss Valentino’s suit, finding that “no wrongful act of the landlord is alleged to have caused the necessity of this decision.”
Valentino has appealed the ruling.
The Italian luxury retail and design company moved out of the Fifth Avenue building Dec. 31 — leaving behind major damage on its way out, the court documents add.
Valentino workers defaced the Venetian Terrazzo marble panels with Carrera chippings that are throughout the space by painting over them and also “leaving sizable holes” in them, the court filing alleges.
Photos obtained by The Post show white paint sloppily applied to the floors and walls throughout the space and the side of a staircase so damaged with holes that it crumbled onto the stairs.
The landlord claims that Valentino owes it $15.3 million for the damage and lost rent during repairs, $6.6 million for not paying rent from September through February and another $184 million to cover the duration of the lease, the court papers say. The landlord is also seeking the legals fees it incurred fighting Valentino’s suit.
Lawyers representing Valentino in its own lawsuit did not immediately return a request for comment.
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