MTA chairman Dale Hemmerdinger's family sues him for 'siphoning' $2.2M from high-rise
BY PETE DONOHUE / DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 2009, 1:01 AM
The man who runs New York's transit system is at the center of a blue-blood battle over a Midtown high-rise his family claims he used as a personal piggy bank.
Dale Hemmerdinger's half brothers, Charles and Monroe, claim in a new lawsuit that the MTA chairman and others "siphoned" more than $2.2 million from 555 Fifth Ave. by nickel-and-diming the building with management fees over the last four years.
The suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, says Hemmerdinger enriched his son and daughter by appointing them to senior, well-paying posts at ATCO Properties - part of the real-estate conglomerate he heads.
ATCO also rented substantial space in the building at below-market rates, the suit alleges.
The building is owned by a limited partnership with dozens of investors, including the Hemmerdingers and ATCO.
Hemmerdinger "continues to use the limited partnership and assets of the limited partnership not only to enrich himself personally, but also to enrich his daughter and his son," the lawsuit claims.
The partnership is in jeopardy of financial collapse because of a cash crunch that could have been weathered if Hemmerdinger had arranged financing secured by the debt-free building, the suit complains.
The office building, which houses a Barnes & Noble bookstore and other tenants, is worth at least $30 million, court papers claim.
Hemmerdinger's real-estate conglomerate dates back to his grandfather, who started with property in Queens. It was further developed by Dale's father, also named Monroe.
Dale Hemmerdinger's parents divorced and his father remarried. Charles and Monroe are his sons from that marriage.
Hemmerdinger didn't return a telephone call seeking comment.
Recently adopted state legislation merged the roles of chairman and chief operating officer at the top of the MTA. Hemmerdinger has expressed an interest in taking the new post, sources said.
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