Cushman and Sotheby's Settle $10M Fee Fight Over $510M Sale

Cushman & Wakefield and Sotheby’s have settled the lawsuit over a $10.2 million brokerage fee on the sale of Sotheby’s former Upper East Side headquarters, The Real Deal reported on October 13. Terms were not available to us.

Why it matters

For brokers, the case was about a side agreement. Cushman alleged that Sotheby’s and the eventual buyer both signed a separate document when a 2023 lease was struck, entitling Cushman to 2 percent if the building sold during the lease term. Sotheby’s called the claim baseless, according to Bisnow. Those are allegations from the complaint, not findings, and the settlement means no court ever ruled on them. The practical lesson for anyone who brokers a lease: a fee tail on a future sale only holds if every party’s signature is on paper you can produce.

The numbers

The city deed is the record we checked ourselves. 1334 York LLC, an entity at Sotheby’s own address, conveyed the property at 1334 York Avenue, block 1483, to Cornell University for $510,000,000. The deed is dated October 1, 2025 and was recorded October 15, 2025. A 2 percent commission on $510 million is exactly $10,200,000, which is the figure Cushman said it was owed. The suit was filed in New York State Supreme Court in April 2026, per Bisnow. Weill Cornell Medicine, part of Cornell, is the user of the site.

What’s next

Settlement amounts and any payment schedule have not been confirmed. Nothing in the deed record changes: the sale is closed and recorded. Watch the court docket for a stipulation of discontinuance, which would be the formal end of the case. For more Manhattan deal activity, see our New York coverage.