NYC family feuds over $258M Madison Ave. sale

With their name on a building at Yale and linked to several investment firms and charitable foundations, the Slifkas are the kind of New York family whose members regularly appear in Manhattan and Hamptons party photos.

But lately they’ve also been appearing on opposite sides in court filings.

Last week, Randy Slifka, one of the sons of Halcyon Capital Management founder Alan Slifka and grandson of developer Joseph Slifka, filed a lawsuit in New York State Court claiming he and his brother were shortchanged in the 2019 sale of one of Joseph’s buildings, 477 Madison, for about $258 million. They are seeking more than $37 million in damages.

The defendant in the suit is Michael Hecht, an accountant who oversaw trusts both for Randy and his brothers and their 93-year-old aunt, Barbara Slifka. According to Randy’s suit, Hecht allowed Shorenstein, the property manager of the 24-story building at Madison Avenue and 51st Street, to influence the appraisal of the building in a way that benefited Barbara at the expense of her nephews.

Barbara, “who was 89 years old at the time of the sale in 2019 and in declining health, barely understood, if at all, how the money from the sale of 477 Madison was being distributed,” Randy claims.

Hecht declined to comment on the suit, as did his lawyer, Gregory Clarick. A spokesperson for Shorenstein didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

But Randy’s focus on Hecht is a shift from previous claims he’s filed against Barbara herself. In September, he won a $16 million arbitration award against Barbara, who he accused of breaching her fiduciary duty in the distributions to him and his brothers from the building’s sale. Barbara, however, defeated Randy’s 2017 lawsuit challenging her authority to sell the building in the first place.

All of the parties are boldfaced names in Northeastern social and cultural circles. Randy, who runs Slifka Asset Management, is a prominent modern art collector, while Barbara, a longtime fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar, is a board member at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the New York City Ballet and was previously one at the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton. Hecht is a trustee at Bennington College, the Trisha Brown Dance Company and the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation.

The fight has been brewing since the 2011 death of Alan Slifka but has its roots in the will of his father, whose name graces the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale University.

According to Randy’s suit, Joseph Slifka, who died in 1992, left the building equally to Alan and Barbara with instructions that their interests similarly pass on to their children. On his death, Alan’s interest was divided among Randy and two other sons, leaving Barbara with the largest stake.

Further complicating matters, Joseph divided 477 Madison between the fee interest — ownership of the property itself — and the leasehold — the rights to its rental income. The fee interest and leasehold were also equally divided between Alan and Barbara, with most going to them personally but with significant percentages also allocated to trusts in their names.

The building opened in the 1950s with the Ford Foundation as its anchor tenant, and it also became the headquarters of Holiday magazine. But 477 Madison fell out of favor in recent years as tenants flocked to more modern buildings.