[ad_1]
Billionaire hedge funder Ray Dalio is being sued by an Italian prince in a fight over building work at his lavish Soho penthouse.
Dalio’s fashionable neighbor, Federico Pignatelli, is furious at the financier’s plan to build on his adjacent roof by adding a living space, deck and pergola.
Pignatelli – a member of the Italian nobility and the founder of Pier 59 Studios at Chelsea Piers – is suing the hedge fund mogul in New York state court, claiming he was given no notice of Dalio’s plans to add a bulkhead, “huge terrace” with decking and a trellis on the roof of the landmarked building at 468 West Broadway.
“It is very egotistical and unnecessary to build on a historical building, where he already owns two floors,” Pignatelli tells Page Six of Dalio.
“He has no respect at all for his neighbors. And why does he need a pergola? Does he think he’s in the Hamptons?”
Pignatelli alleges in his lawsuit that the construction ordered by Dalio – and the sheer weight of the materials – has damaged a column in his living room, made his skylights unusable and even created falling plaster and cracks.
Pignatelli also claims that the building’s co-op board gave Dalio preferential treatment, having refused his own request to build a bathroom above his 2,800 square-foot apartment. The residence was described by the New York Post in 2016 as the “ne plus ultra of bachelor pads” where Donald Trump once partied.
He is asking the court to order Dalio to stop construction and dismantle the existing structures, saying, “It seems that Dalio feels he is above the law and that he is rich enough to do whatever he wants, even in a landmark NYC district.”
Dalio, who is co-chair of Bridgewater Associates and has an estimated net worth of $20 billion, lives in the penthouse next door to Pignatelli on the sixth floor.
Despite Pignatelli’s allegations, other sources in the building insist to Page Six that the work on Dalio’s penthouse has remained in full compliance with city building rules.
A rep for Dalio did not comment on the suit when we reached out, and the building’s co-op board could not immediately be reached.
[ad_2]