A millionaire financier has sued his “incredibly arrogant” billionaire neighbor for building a massive pergola on the roof of their SoHo penthouse that he says crushes his apartment underneath.
Federico Pignatelli della Leonessa has lived in the West Broadway Arches Building, built in the 1880s, since 1991, when he bought Unit 6H for $650,000 in a rare opportunity at the time for a non-artist in Manhattan’s SoHo district.
Now he says he can’t live in his loft after billionaire Ray Dalio’s son, Paul Dalio, and wife Kristina Nikolova Dalio built “an all-new seventh floor,” including a giant 15-foot-tall pergola, that does not meet the requirements. .
Pignatelli said their pergola is crushing his apartment and has made it unsafe for him or his daughter to inhabit the loft.
Pignatelli has now sued the Dalio family, including the patriarch of Bridgewater Associates, one of his sons and two daughters-in-law, among other things for structurally endangering his home.
Federico Pignatelli della Leonessa (left) has lived in the West Broadway Arches since 1991, when he bought Unit 6H for $650,000. Now he says he can’t live in his loft after his billionaire neighbor (right) Ray Dalio’s son Paul Dalio and wife Kristina Nikolova Dalio built “an all-new seventh floor,” including a giant 15-foot-tall pergola . of code
He accuses, among others, the Dalio family, including the patriarch of Bridgewater Associates, one of his sons and two daughters-in-law, of structurally endangering his home. The pergola peeks over the top of the SoHo building
Paul and Kristina no longer live in Unit 6G, which was purchased in 2013 for $4.3 million and is now occupied by Dalio’s other son Mark. They own a second unit – 5G – which was purchased six months later for $2.8 million.
“I’m Italian, Ray’s Italian, we’re neighbors!” said Pignatelli The New York Times. “We should respect each other and help each other, but he’s incredibly arrogant.”
Dalio argues that de Pigatelli, who spent his time in Los Angeles and Milan, only named him in the lawsuit to embarrass him into a settlement and denies that the defendants acted improperly.
The family lawyer, Tom Sinchak, told the Times that the family had received approval before embarking on the project and that they are “confident that the legal system will handle this situation appropriately.”
However, Pigatelli said he was not made aware of the project until it was just getting underway and when he returned to New York in May 2021 after fleeing the pandemic, he found his side of the roof covered in construction materials and the newly built penthouse on its neighbour’s side.
Paul and Kristina only started building upwards after Pigatelli refused to sell them his loft.
DailyMail.com has contacted Pigatelli for comment.
The millionaire would then spend a year texting the Dalios and the co-op board before filing a lawsuit with the Manhattan Supreme Court in 2022.
He submitted photographic evidence that he says shows structural damage to the pergola’s structural support, which continues into its foundation.
From scattered skylights to broken mirrors to cracks in the ceilings and walls, Pigatelli argues that the Dalio’s new addition compromises the structure of the entire building.
“I tried to warn you that construction made things worse. And I then had no choice but to sue,” Pigatelli texted Dalio at one point. “A mirror literally exploded in my bathroom due to the architectural shift, and if my daughter or I had been there, we would have been seriously injured or even killed.”
He submitted photographic evidence that he says shows structural damage to the pergola’s structural support, which continues into its foundation. A mirror in one of his bathrooms exploded (pictured)
The Dalios built what Pigatelli calls a “seventh floor” on the roof, which he says threatens the structure of the building
Pigatelli’s roof door is now misaligned due to construction
A skylight also shattered in Pigatelli’s loft, which he bought in 1991 for $650,000
It also showed multiple cracks throughout the house that appeared during and after the construction of the Dalio
He also argues that similar buildings — such as the parking garage that collapsed in Manhattan in April, killing one — proves that this is Dalio’s pergola and that new additions pose a similar risk.
‘The new penthouse, decks and associated structure, as occupied – effectively a new 7th floor – impose a load calculated at more than 200,000 pounds, resting on and supported by the building’s 140-year-old wooden columns for which they were never designed to support,” a 24-page letter filed with Mayor Eric Adams and the Department of Buildings, the Times said.
When the Buildings Department carried out an inspection of the building, it turned out that the new edition ‘did not fully comply’ with the plans approved by the city. However, it did not find that structure created “dangerous conditions.”
In May 2022, city inspectors then determined that “work is not going according to plan.” Plans are not according to the code.’
The Dalios said they would solve the problem, but have not done so, the ministry told the Times.
The pergola (lower left) is 4.5 meters high and Pigatelli says the foundation is bleeding into the foundation of his apartment and threatening it
Over the years, Pigatelli said he and Dalios had a good neighborly relationship, but it was broken in February 2020 when the financier messaged the cooperative’s chairman to complain that the billionaire family kept leaving items in the hallway and that they often left their door. open all day so kids can ‘play and scream in this space’.
“I need to hear them screaming or playing the piano, like they’re my kids,” he said in a text message viewed by the Times.
Now he avoids his apartment in Manhattan and when in New York he says in the private club Casa Cipriani.
“They do everything they can to make me feel like I’m in casa, but nothing can beat my casa,” he told the Times.