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The MTA didn’t exactly have a banner year in 2017, what with the quality of subway service going down the tubes. According to a new lawsuit, the authority was also a truly crummy landlord last year as well.
The New York Post reports that the owner of The Campbell, a historic cocktail bar in Grand Central Terminal, is suing the MTA for failing to abide by the terms of its lease. The suit claims that the building had air-conditioning problems and the MTA levied unwarranted restrictions on private events and signage at the bar.
The Campbell (formerly known as the Campbell Apartment) reopened under new ownership in May 2017 after nearly a year of renovations. The space’s origins involve some of the most influential power brokers in New York during the 20th century. In 1923, railroad executive John Campbell leased the space in the southwest corner of Grand Central from William Vanderbilt and turned it into an opulent office with a design inspired by 13th century Florentine architecture. Following Campbell’s death, the space acted as a police station and a jail before being renovated and converted into a bar in 1999. Mark Grossich ran it for 17 years before being outbid for the lease takeover by Scott Gerber (Irvington, Mr. Purple) in 2016.
Just months after reopening, Gerber is none too pleased with the MTA’s behavior as a landlord. He says that the space gets too hot, the MTA will not allow the bar to put up signs that were already agreed upon and the authority demands the bar pay for expensive fire marshals during its private events. According to Gerber, all of this violates The Campbell’s lease agreement.
It would not be surprising if Gerber’s claims are valid—the MTA isn’t a shining example of a well-run organization in New York. Even so, Grossich successfully ran the bar for nearly two decades, which makes one question whether or not stuffy air and poor signage are really to blame for any struggles The Campbell may be having.
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