An image from the listing of apartment 18A at the Mandarin Oriental Residences, whose owners are suing the firm behind the building.
Photo: Douglas Elliman
John and Diane Goodman have aired many, many grievances about their time at the Mandarin Oriental Residences, Fifth Avenue. After closing on a $6.1 million one-bedroom at the hotel-branded luxury condo in December 2023, the couple has so far filed two lawsuits alleging a range of issues from “construction errors” and an “algae-infested” rooftop pool to missing place mats from a promised set of six. And in documents filed in New York Supreme Court earlier this month as part of the second lawsuit, Goodman had some additional complaints.
Let’s review. In March 2024, not long after closing on their unit, the couple filed their first lawsuit against developer Michael Shvo and BSD 685 New York Propco LLC. In a second suit filed later that year that names Shvo along with his investors and the Mandarin Oriental, Goodman claimed “a pervasive sense of neglect” had rendered his unit “effectively worthless.” (Both suits are ongoing, although a judge dismissed claims against Shvo in the initial suit.)
And this time around? Buyers, including the Goodmans, were promised “private homes offering all the legendary services of a great hotel with none of the guests.” Instead, per the new filing, there are many guests. Roaches, for one. Goodman alleges the insects are regularly seen crawling around his apartment and the hallway of the 18th floor. There have also been, the suit continues, “transient guests” coming through for Net-a-Porter pop-ups and facials from celebrity facialist Iván Pol, better known as the Beauty Sandwich. (Both businesses were set up in empty units — so far just 19 of the 65 units have sold with three more in contract, according to StreetEasy.) “The Building has become a boarding house,” Goodman claims in the suit. (Shvo declined to comment on the new filing, but a lawyer for the developer has previously called the Goodmans’ legal effort a play at “sensationalist headlines.”)
Finally, and this one hurts: Goodman alleges he hasn’t been able to enjoy a “first coffee in the morning sun” at Daniel Boulud’s private restaurant as advertised, owing to the limited service hours that start just before noon. “There are no ‘first coffee’ or ‘final nightcaps’ to be found there,” according to the suit.
