Owner tries to evict tenants based on zoning while seeking to convert building to residential use. Amy Kreiling and Roy Williams leased a studio unit from Thames Realty, owner of a loft building located within a manufacturing zoning district in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Although the lease limited their use to business purposes, the tenants used the unit as their residence. Five years into the tenancy, Thames notified them that it wished to terminate the lease. When … <Read More>
Search Results for: Loft Law
Owner personally liable for corporate violations
Confusion existed in the closely held Limited Liability Corporation. In 2005, two tenants from 13 E. 17th Street filed a complaint with the Loft Board, claiming the building’s owner failed to install sprinklers as required and requesting fines. The tenants named Nathan Silverstein as the owner.
In Silverstein’s first letter to the Loft Board, he listed the correct owner as “13 E. 17 LLC,” but all remaining documents, including his formal response to the tenants’ … <Read More>
Honest owner returns to Commission; gets permit
One-story addition was visible from adjacent street. In 2002, the owners of 363-65 Greenwich Street, an 1866 Italianate loft in Manhattan’s Tribeca West Historic District, sought approval to add a one-story rooftop addition. Landmarks’ staff approved without a hearing after concluding that the addition would not be visible from any public street. When construction was completed, the owners realized that the addition was visible along Harrison Street and consequently the staff-level approval was flawed. The … <Read More>