550 GRAND STREET

The condo board at 550 Grand Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, had a problem unrelated to hirsute hipsters, organic kale smoothies and double-wide strollers. It's a common problem with new construction and even in renovated pre-war apartment buildings, such as this four-story, 1920 walkup converted circa 2009 from three units to six. But what makes this case unusual, and possibly instructive to other new boards who may be facing sponsor shenanigans, this board successfully argued that just because the sponsor used different corporate names doesn't mean any of those entities can evade responsibility.