R&E Swiftly Regains Possession of Parking Garage for Manhattan Cooperative

New York State Supreme Court, New York County, Decided October 16, 2020
Featuring Bradley S. Silverbush, Howard W. Kingsley and Norman Flitt

Rosenberg & Estis secured a victory for a cooperative on East 57th Street, swiftly securing possession of a parking garage within the building whose leaseholder had defaulted on rent payments. Following the pandemic, the master lease holder surrendered possession and assigned the rents owed by subtenants to the co-op, leaving the cooperative to deal with the existing parking garage operator who was three months in arrears. While the sublease expired, given the existing eviction moratorium, R&E moved in State Supreme Court for declaratory judgment, seeking an order directing the garage operator to pay the arrears and surrender possession. R&E filed for an Order to Show Cause which also sought to enforce a sublease provision that required the garage to pay holdover use and occupancy at triple the rent that was in effect at the expiration of the sublease. The court directed a virtual hearing on the requested relief at which the defendants failed to appear and upon completion of the hearing, granted R&E the relief it sought. The court’s order included a direction that the operator pay a total of $1,571,812 in arrears, and in addition, turn over all daily receipts effective as of the date of the court’s order, to be paid to the co-op within two days of receipt. The litigation team successfully opposed the garage’s subsequent attempt to vacate the court’s order; after a hearing on the claims asserted, the court rejected the arguments advanced and kept the order in place resulting in the voluntary vacatur and surrender of the garage to the coop.