$700M Refinancing Triggers Feud Between Syndicator’s Founders

19 July 2025

A $700 million CMBS refinancing deal from Citibank gave embattled Houston multifamily syndicator Nitya Capital a lifeline less than two months ago, but the loan sparked a juicy legal feud between the firm’s two founders.

Vivek Shah claimed in a recent filing that Swapnil Agarwal is violating an arbitration award issued in June, which granted Shah significant ownership stakes, veto power and access to company records. The final arbitration took five days, and Agarwal was also ordered to pay $50,000 in legal fees, according to the filing.

Shah said Agarwal failed to provide information about the refinancing, which covered 18 properties across six states and came amid mounting financial and legal challenges for Nitya. The firm has struggled to pay off past loans and faces lawsuits, including one from the City of Mesquite, a suburb of Dallas, over poor living conditions at an apartment complex.

Here’s what else happened in Texas real estate this week.

A distressed office building, Midtown Central Square in Houston, took a major hit, with its value dropping 44 percent in three years to $33.5 million, according to Morningstar Credit. That followed declining cash flow and legal battles between owner Claremont Property Company and lender Wells Fargo. The 14-story office building was foreclosed on earlier this year, but a loan modification and 12-month forbearance were later granted. Claremont plans to invest $850,000 to convert space into spec suites in an effort to attract tenants in an office market with a 26.1 percent vacancy rate.

Houston-based Wu Properties, known for retail investment, purchased the Woodlake Plaza office building with plans to occupy it, marking a rare move into office real estate for the firm. The six-story, 106,000-square-foot property in Westchase was acquired with a $3.15 million loan, which amounts to $30 per square foot, but the price wasn’t disclosed. The seller was Whitestone REIT.

Value-add multifamily investment is still alive in ’25. A local syndicator led by Cody Gustafson and Robert Slattery acquired a 94-unit apartment complex in Oak Cliff, rebranding it as Hart House and planning to raise rents to market rate. The buyer secured a $6.6 million Fannie Mae loan for the two-building property, which amounts to $70,000 per unit, but the price wasn’t disclosed.

Hines revived 20-year-old plans for a master-planned community in League City that could bring over 2,600 homes, along with schools, a fire station, parks, and a commercial core to Houston’s southeastern fringe. The development would significantly boost suburban growth in the corridor between Houston and Galveston.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and his Republican primary challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, are duking it out for the support of Texas real estate scions. Take a look at who’s taking sides.