Brokerage sues brokerage over Tennyson retail sale commission
The building at 3945 Tennyson St. was formerly home to West End Tap House. (Courtesy Unique Properties)
“I see that you purchased 3945 Tennyson last week,” the real estate broker Alexander Becker reportedly texted a client on April 22. “What have you decided on my commission?”
It had been a year since Becker and his firm, Real Estate Consultants of Colorado (REC), agreed to help the local restaurateur Khagendra Gurung find an investment property in exchange for a 3-percent commission. Becker had compiled a list of 18 properties, negotiated a $3.1 million asking price down to $2.3 million, and arranged a lender, according to REC.
Then, in March, came a surprise: Gurung had hired a competing broker, REC says now.
In a lawsuit that the Denver firm filed June 24, REC accuses Gurung of breaching their contract by hiring Michael DeSantis of Unique Properties. REC is also suing Unique Properties for allegedly interfering with that breached contract and for keeping a commission.
“This is a commission dispute between brokers,” said Unique owner Marc Lippitt, “and I really can’t comment any further than that, as our attorney is currently reviewing the matter.”
The 3,900-square-foot building at 3945 Tennyson St. was home to the West End Tap House for 11 years, until its closure this year. The building’s sale was first reported by BusinessDen.
Khagendra Gurung (BusinessDen file)
“We were targeting the Highlands, Berkeley and Sunnyside — and then ended up on Tennyson,” DeSantis, who worked the deal with colleague Brett MacDougall, said then of his client.
Gurung owns Mazevo Mediterranean Eatery at 3961 Tennyson and Himalayan Spice at 4279 Tennyson. His brother and sister-in-law, Yubraj and Anita Gurung, run Beau Thai at 3901 Tennyson. Gurung hasn’t yet decided on a concept for 3945 Tennyson.
Meanwhile, REC said that it deserved a commission from that sale — 3 percent of $2.26 million is $67,800 — but when Becker requested his cut from Gurung, he was told, “Can you talk to Mike (DeSantis)?” And his talks with DeSantis went nowhere, REC said.
Reached by email, Gurung directed BusinessDen to talk with his attorney but did not name him. A lawyer for Gurung did not contact BusinessDen before press time.
REC and Becker similarly declined to discuss the case. They are represented by attorneys Karen Safran and Caroline Knight with Goodspeed Merrill in Englewood.
Unique, a defendant in this case, has shown its own willingness to seek unpaid commissions in court. In March, it sued the real estate investor Haroon Sulehria for not paying Unique after two supposed property sales along South Broadway. Sulehria claims that the properties were not sold — one was transferred, the other he kept — so no commission is warranted.
