Santa Fe man files lawsuit over sale of hotel for affordable housing
Aug. 23—A man who says he helped a couple of business partners negotiate a multimillion-dollar deal to sell Santa Fe Suites has filed a lawsuit against the pair, alleging they didn't pay him for his work.
Santa Fe resident James O'Hara filed the complaint last week in state District Court against Ranbir Bajwa, Anil Dharna and their business, Santa Fe Holdings LLC, accusing them of making a profit from the hotel's sale in 2020 through a plan he designed to help create affordable housing in Santa Fe with investments from the city, state and federal governments and nonprofits that serve the homeless community.
"Mr. O'Hara's services caused defendants to reap a large profit selling the Santa Fe Suites with his 'Everybody in the Boat' repositioning," the lawsuit says. "But Defendants wrongly left him behind without even a taste of the venture's success. ... Defendants should be ordered to disgorge their wrongful profits to Mr. O'Hara."
Bajwa and Dharna could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit.
Victor Graffe III, an attorney for O'Hara, declined to comment on the case until he had a chance to speak with his client, who is seeking an undisclosed amount in damages.
According to the lawsuit, O'Hara helped Bajwa and Dharna acquire the Santa Fe Suites property, 3007 St. Francis Drive, in 2011 and served as the hotel's general manager until his retirement in 2012 from a decadeslong career in hospitality management.
The three later agreed to resell the property at a profit, the suit says. Bajwa and Dharna furnished it while O'Hara "invested his mature professional expertise to develop and implement a plan to reposition the hotel for a different market."
O'Hara alleges in the lawsuit he began making over 200 contacts that made the sale possible and developed the detailed housing plan called "Everybody in the Boat," which Bajwa and Dharna discussed and agreed to use.
The city of Santa Fe helped a New York-based nonprofit Community Solutions purchase the hotel in 2020, with the city investing $2 million from the federal CARES Act, the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority providing a $2 million grant, and other nonprofit investors spending $600,000. The federal government also gave a $500,000 reimbursement for the project.
When O'Hara attempted to contact Bajwa and Dharna to seek his share of the sale, they refused to answer his communications.
"Mr. O'Hara has not received one penny," the lawsuit says.
The complaint accuses Bajwa and Dharna of breach of contract but also notes they had no written partnership agreement with O'Hara.
Without a contract, the complaint says, the parties should have followed default rules for "general partnership."
