Court papers further allege that Mr. Bender’s stewardship of the estate has depreciated its value through neglect and the acquisition of debt.
Mr. Bender declined to comment for this article. In papers filed Nov. 9, he contended that the Surrogate Court judge decided appropriately when granting him control of the estate. In the Surrogate Court’s decision, issued in February 2008, the judge argued that because Mr. Corbett wasn’t named in Gottlieb’s will, he had no standing to challenge the granting of administrative rights. Moreover, the judge deemed Mr. Corbett’s and Ms. Dier’s assertions that Mr. Bender was too irresponsible to act as the estate’s administrator “insufficient to require disqualification.”
Further, in documents filed in November, Mr. Bender calls the allegations of drunkeness and financial irresponsibility “little more than a scurrilous attack on the Benders’ conduct and good character.”
WHILE THE APPEALS COURT deliberates, Mr. Bender continues to control Greenwich Village’s most storied, and most ramshackle, empire, his intentions unknown, his ambitions unclear. He assigns everyday maintenance to a handful of trusted jacks-of-all-trades with janitor-size key rings. He’s been spotted touring the Village in the back seat of a chauffeured minivan, intentionally or not evoking the legend of his uncle Billy, who would shamble about in a beat-up station wagon.
In other ways, he’s departed from his uncle’s legacy. Mr. Bender has made minor attempts at development, with plans to transform the old Keller Hotel into luxury condos, and he’s demolished a building at West and West 12th streets. Both projects now appear stalled. And last year, Mr. Bender leased an empty lot at 47 Prince Street to the Union Square Hospitality Group, which plans to erect a Shake Shack.
And in an attempt to perhaps professionalize his property management, Mr. Bender has hired retail brokers from Ripco, Zelnik and Co. and CB Richard Ellis to find tenants for some of his empty storefronts, a responsibility Gottlieb used to take on himself.
“The one difference is, there are these fits and starts,” Mr. Berman said. “With Bill, there weren’t even those for the most part.”
