A Loop office building that made headlines for selling at an eye-popping $17 per-square-foot in late 2023 has faced its fair share of challenges since then.
Investor Ruben Espinoza, who bought the property at 300 West Adams with Igor Gabal, sued Gabal last week, accusing him of mishandling a $6.2 million insurance payout.
The lawsuit comes just a few months after Gabal won a prior legal battle with investors John Thomas and Chris Hansen. Hansen and Thomas sued Gabal for allegedly cutting them out of a plan to buy 300 West Adams together. Gabal prevailed in September when a judge dismissed the case. Now he’s back in hot water again, this time with Espinoza.
According to the lawsuit, Gabal hired a public adjuster to help facilitate an insurance claim that would cover $6 million worth of repairs to water damage in the 12-story, 240,000 square foot building.
Unbeknownst to Espinoza, a $1.8 million portion of the insurance payout that the building owners received was transferred to a bank account controlled by Gabal, the lawsuit alleges. An additional $562,000 was later transferred to the same account, again without Espinoza’s knowledge or consent.
Espinoza alleges that contractors hired to perform asbestos remediation and other work on the building were owed nearly $200,000.
Late last year, Gabal allegedly began funneling money such as rent payments from a shared business account between himself and Espinoza to the new account controlled solely by Gabal. Espinoza does not have access to the new account, his legal filing states.
Espinoza claims Gabal has been “looting” funds needed to run the building and pay investors, including Espinoza.
The filing accuses Gabal of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duties. Espinoza’s lawyer and Gabal declined to comment on the filing. Espinoza did not respond to requests for comment.
Separately, Espinoza faced a slew of legal challenges last year alleging he owed people involved in several properties throughout the Chicago area amounts ranging from $300,000 to $3 million. Three of those four lawsuits, however, were dismissed.