New York-based investor KKR and Co. dropped a lawsuit accusing Twitter of failing to pay more than $1 million in rent for space in a downtown Oakland office building it co-owns with TMG.
KKR filed a lawsuit in March accusing Elon Musk of missing four months of rent arrears at 1330 Broadway shortly after he took the helm of Twitter and began cutting costs, office space and headcount. KKR asked for the sack in May but it was not reported until recently San Francisco Business Times. KKR did not respond to SFBT’s request for comment on why the lawsuit was dropped. TMG declined to comment for this story.
The case is the second Twitter lawsuit over rent arrears to be dismissed this year. In April, Columbia Property Trust also dropped a lawsuit against Twitter for nearly $140,000 in unpaid rent for an office it leased at 650 California Street in San Francisco. Columbia Property Trust also did not respond to a request for comment.
The biggest Bay Area rent case against Twitter is still pending. The Shorenstein Properties suit is based at Twitter’s main headquarters at 1355 Market Street, also known as the Twitter Building.IIn January, it filed for nearly $7 million in back rent. According to SFBT, the case is still pending and the amount owed has continued to increase over the year.
case filed Just as Shorenstein faces deadline on $400 million construction loan, Shorenstein paid off the loan, one of the few cases this year where owners managed to meet their financial responsibilities rather than just walk away.
Twitter also faces a spate of lawsuits for rent arrears from outside the Bay Area, from Boston to London. It has also been sued by service providers such as PR firms, consultancies and project management firms over other unpaid bills.
— emily landers
