Food Trucks Killed UWS Pizzeria, Cost Landlord $930K In Rent: Lawsuit

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — An Upper West Side landlord is suing the city for nearly $1 million after multiple city agencies failed to clamp down on unlicensed food trucks that hurt tenants' business, according to a new lawsuit.

Attorneys for local landlord Rymsbran Continental filed a lawsuit last month in Manhattan accusing city officials of standing idle as food vendors blocked storefronts during peak lunch hours, caused a local pizzeria — Bravo West Pizza at 2345 Broadway — to close and were “threatening and combative when asked to display a license."

The trucks continue to sell homemade food at the corners of West 85th and 86th streets on Broadway, and have done so since September 2022, the lawsuit states. Rymsbran Continental owns several commercial sites at 2341-59 Broadway near West 85th Street, including the 2345 Broadway retail space.

“These unlicensed vendors make it impossible to rent the vacant store since they park right in front of the store making it very undesirable and these illegal vendors scare off potential customers,” the lawsuit reads, adding the landlord’s largest tenant, Broadway Fruit Market LLC, “has been most severely economically damaged due to the illegal vendors obstructing the sidewalk directly in front of the vegetable, fruit and grocery store.”

A request from the landlord's attorney was not immediately returned. A representative from the city's law department declined to comment to Patch.

Businesses along Rymsbran Continental's stretch on Broadway have suffered in the year since trucks started selling homemade food Mondays through Saturdays at the corners, the lawsuit contends.

Landlords fought back by making multiple calls to the health, consumer affairs and sanitation departments, but only received a deaf ear, according to the lawsuit. When police officers were called to the area, officers reportedly advised the landlord that the city didn’t want officers to take any action against the food vendors.

The hard-struck businesses have since asked for rent concessions to make up for their losses, the lawsuit contends. A grocery store's and a pizzeria's owners asked for, and received, $14,000 and $12,000 in respective rent concessions, the lawsuit states.

Those combined concessions have cost landlords $390,000, according to the lawsuit, and the losses from a now-vacant pizzeria cost a minimum of $540,000.

The Upper West Side landlord demands $930,000 from the city and continuing losses of at least $62,000 per month until a resolution is met, according to the lawsuit.

You can view the full lawsuit below: