No amount of crabs with salmon roe will save a pop-up dinner business owner from eviction, so long as those in charge at 8 Spruce Street gets its way.
Beam Living, which manages the luxury apartment building in the Financial District, is suing to have Carlos Gasperi removed from his 75th-floor unit, Crain’s reported. The building manager alleged Gasperi, who owns a speakeasy dining concept that operates out of several spots in the city, has been hosting restaurant service in his one-bedroom apartment.
Gasperi started leasing the unit in April for just under $7,000 per month, moving into a 440-square-foot combined living and dining room, plus a small kitchen. Problems surfaced shortly after his arrival, as building managers reported more than a dozen guests flocking to the apartment on numerous occasions in the summer.
Gasperi was served eviction papers late last month, according to court documents. But he has refused to leave the one-bedroom unit leased through next April, necessitating the lawsuit, which claimed Gasperi “has created a private nuisance at the building and apartment.”
The grounds for eviction were that a restaurant in a residential space runs afoul of health and zoning codes.
The lawsuit, which also claimed the alleged pseudo-restaurant is scaring away tenants, is seeking at least $25,000 in damages. Court filings detail issues including loud noises, smoke, bad smells and trash buildup stemming from the apartment on the building’s penultimate floor.
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Robert Rosenblatt, a lawyer representing Gasperi, told the outlet the various meals served at the apartment are dinner parties, not restaurant seatings. Rosenblatt added Gasperi doesn’t charge guests for the food.
Maison Sun largely keeps its locations out of the public eye, but according to Rosenblatt, Gasperi hosts diners at 177 Prince Street in Soho and another outpost coming to 200 Schermerhorn Street in Downtown Brooklyn. The company charges $365 for eight-course meals with wine, plating dishes like fluke with seaweed and green-dragon apples.
Blackstone last year acquired the luxury rentals at the 76-story building for $930 million, a jump from the $850 million sellers Brookfield Asset Management and Nuveen were aspiring towards for the 899-unit property.
— Holden Walter-Warner