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Crain’s (and everyone else) reports that the McDonald’s Corporation, in behalf of its franchise on Chambers and Greenwich, is suing an upstairs neighbor and the board of managers for the coop at 303 Greenwich.

The suit, filed in New York Supreme Court in November, alleges that Michael Smith, the owner of the penthouse on the Reade Street side of the building and a founder of StreetEasy, expanded his apartment on top of an easement that the restaurant acquired in 1990.

Here’s how the complaint explains it: In 1990 shortly after construction, McDonald’s acquired four commercial units on the ground floor and cellar of the building, called The Tribeca and encompassing 303-307 Greenwich Street, 147-149 Reade Street and 165 Chambers Street. McDonald’s claims that at that time, The Tribeca’s sponsor, 165 Chambers Street Associates, granted the company various easements over, under and across the properties, including an HVAC easement that included a cooling tower on the roof of 147-149 Reade.

The complaint explains that Smith acquired the penthouse at 147 Reade in 1997 along with exclusive use of the rooftop. And in 2006, McDonald’s renovated and eliminated the cooling tower on that same rooftop. The following year, Smith built on the roof, expanding the apartment, according to the complaint, by 3000 square feet and demolishing the HVAC easement area.

It then gets hairy when McDonald’s starts having HVAC issues in 2012 and spends the next 12 years trying to fix it. The complaint details each email — recording the back-and-forth as the franchisee, Rupinder Singh, tries to find a solution.

McDonald’s is now asking $10 million from the coop in damages, as well as an injunction from the court requiring the building to allow the installation of new HVAC equipment in alternate locations such as the courtyard, or the roof of 303-307 Greenwich, 165 Chambers, or 149 Reade. AND they want Smith to demolish the apartment from the 147 Reade easement area.

You can read the complaint here.