Business

Kalisman and Sapir lobby for control of Mondrian SoHo

Alex Sapir canā€™t enter his own hotel if Jasą½§on Kalisman has a say.

The two young hotel scions battled over control of the Mondrian SoHo ā€” literally on the ground floor of theā™ˆ 263-room hotel early Monday and later a ź¦few blocks south before a judge in Manhattan state court, where Kalisman won the day.

It was quite a manic Monday.

The two want to run the 9 Crosby St. hotel, restašŸ¤”urant and bar ā€” an A-list celebrity magnet that has hosted parties attended by Kanye West and Britney Spears.

First, Sapir ā€” whose orgš’†™anization bought the hotel out of foreclosure for $205 million March 6 ā€” at roughly 2:30 a.m. Monday entered the Mondrian to oust Kalismanā€™s Morgans Hotel Group (MHG), in its third year of a 10-year management contract to run the facility.

Sapirā€™s team attempted to put fliers under guest doors sayingšŸ­ they were taking charge and changing the name of the hotel to NoMo SoHo, sources said.

Their plan was to install their own computer systems while most guests were asleep, and then as seamlessly as possible start running the Mondrian, with most workers staying in place butą²Œ changing employers, a source said.

Sapir was determined to force the change and was only prevented from doing so after Kalismanā€™s hotel management called the police, sources sā„±aid.

Kalismanā€™s MHG then put their own fliers ā€” which were reviewed by The Post ā€” under guest doors saying, ā€œIn the early morning hours, SapšŸ’¦ir attempted to illegally remove MHG as the operator of the Mondrian SoHo. Sapirā€™s actions aź¦t Mondrian SoHo are highly irresponsible and damaging.ā€

During theą²Œ day, the Sapir Organizationā€™s legal team and security experts, including Bo Dietl, were on site, meeting in a room next to the ground-floor bar that could only be accessed through a secret entrance that from the outside appeared to be a bookcase.

Many pšŸ”Æeopź§™le looking like security men were roaming the hotelā€™s ground floor while young, fashionable guests dined in the restaurant, seemingly oblivious to the high-stakes corporate one-upmanship going on around them.

Later on MošŸƒnday, a judge issued a temporary restraining order against Sapir.

Kalisman, the 35-year-old grandson of real estate giant Alfred Taubman, is seeking a termination fee for walking away from the roughly $1.25 milliošŸ¬n annual management contract, a source close to MHG said.

MHG shareholders are not placing much value on the management contract, which expires in February 2021 ā€” with two 10-year extensions at MHGā€™s option. The value of the management contract could add up to $2 a share to MHGā€™s $7.74 clošŸˆsing price, a source said.

Morgans mainšŸ’®tains the foreclosšŸøure does not affect its management agreement.