Harlem Developers, Auto Shop Trade Claims Of Harassment, Illegal Work

HARLEM, NY — A Harlem auto shop claims that a developer is escalating a harassment campaign designed to drive out the business and make way for a new apartment tower — as the developer counters with allegations that the shop itself is guilty of attacking construction workers to obstruct their project, court records show.

The legal battle has pitted Prestige Auto Repair, a body shop on the corner of East 111th Street and Third Avenue, against a group of developers including Elie Fouerti and Sergey Rybak.

It began last fall, when Fouerti shelled out more than $13 million to purchase the auto shop's building as well as four adjacent buildings that spanned the rest of the block. Months later, Fouerti filed plans to construct a multi-story apartment building on the site, and began tearing down the four adjacent buildings this spring after all tenants had left.

But Prestige soon accused Fouerti of trying to displace the shop by unfairly canceling its lease, possibly in order to build a second new development on that side of the block, as Patch reported at the time.

Now, Prestige says things have gotten worse, filing a new lawsuit on Friday accusing the developers of "extremely disturbing and illegal conduct" as part of "a concerted effort to force it to vacate its occupancy" of the property.

The shop says it learned in early August that the developers had deliberately cut the shop's phone and internet cable, shutting down the business for five days and depriving it of $50,000 in revenue.

That came on top of a construction mishap in April, when workers demolishing the building at 2011 Third Ave. broke through a wall, raining debris down onto customer vehicles parked in Prestige's lot and causing about $40,000 in damage, according to the lawsuit.

A similar mishap happened again in July, again damaging customers' cars, Prestige says. The shop says much of that demolition work was illegal, since it happened after the city issued at least one stop-work order for unsafe construction.

Since April, the Department of Buildings has issued a combined $51,250 in fines for construction violations at the 2005 Third Ave. site, city records show.

But the developers have hit back, filing their own lawsuit against Prestige in late August. In that suit, attorneys for Fouerti say the auto shop has held up the construction of their 17-story building by refusing to allow access to the shop's property, where the developers need to install a construction fence to protect it during demolition.

When a contractor tried to install some of that protective equipment in front of the shop in April, an auto shop employee "actively and aggressively interfered" with the work — even turning on a fire hose and spraying the construction crew, one of the developers' contractors alleges in a separate court filing.

An attorney for the auto shop did not deny the incident when reached for comment on Tuesday, but told Patch that his client, shop owner Yossi Mazig, was simply defending his livelihood.

"My client was trying to protect his property and doing the best he could because he was damaging his cars that were parked under this demolition," attorney James Fishman said. "He feels that they’re trying to drive him out and he built this business up from scratch, put a lot of his money and sweat and toil into it over the years, and they’re just pushing him around."

The new building would be 17 stories tall and contain 108 apartments — including 27 set aside for low-income residents, according to the developers.

It remains unclear what the developers plan to do with the north side of the block, containing the auto shop. The shop contends that the developers plan to construct a second building there, and Fouerti has indeed filed plans with the city for a 15-story affordable housing building on the site.

But Fouerti has denied this, telling Patch in April that "There's nothing that's happening on that site."

Four different lawsuits are now pending between the auto shop and the developers, court records show. Attorneys for the developers did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Related coverage:

• Harlem Developer Unfairly Trying To Displace Auto Shop, Suit Alleges
• Much Of East Harlem Block To Be Demolished For Apartment Tower
• 15-Story Affordable Housing Coming To East Harlem Block

Have a Harlem news tip? Contact reporter Nick Garber at [email protected].