[NYguy]

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-e...ent-violations

Extell takes aim at upscale restaurant tenant for failing to vacate Midtown development site





C. J. Hughes
March 28, 2025

An upscale Midtown restaurant doesn’t seem ready to let Gary Barnett devour its home.

Philippe Chow, a 20-year fixture of 33 E. 60th St., has let a key deadline come and go without vacating the building, which Barnett, president of Extell Development Co., wants to bulldoze to make way for a tall new tower.

According to court filings, Extell informed Chow Dec. 19, one day after it went into contract to buy the site, that the developer would terminate the restaurant’s lease March 24 and that the Chinese eatery had until that date to clear out.

But the restaurant didn’t shut down at the Monday deadline.

Extell, which also plans to raze four surrounding properties on the block—Nos. 33, 37 and 39 E. 60th St. as well as 655 Madison Ave., all of which appear vacant—seems ready to apply maximum financial pressure to get Chow to leave.

On Wednesday, three days after the threatened closing date, Extell sued Chow’s parent, Merchant Hospitality, to recoup allegedly skipped rent payments and collect penalties for its staying on. For those supposed violations, Merchant owes Extell at least $1.4 million, plus attorney’s fees, says the suit, which was filed in Manhattan state Supreme Court.

Specifically, Merchant allegedly owes $390,000 in back rent, all of it covering months before Extell owned the property, and also $978,000 in fines for overstaying its lease, which was signed in 2005 and which was supposed to run till 2027, filings show.