Fyre Festival Organizer Owed $35K In Rent For TriBeCa Office, Legal Notice Claims

TRIBECA, NY — The company behind the disastrous Fyre Festival fell nearly $35,000 behind in rent payments to its landlord, according to a legal notice posted outside the company's now-vacant TriBeCa headquarters this month.

Fyre Media, which was until recently based out of a high-end building at 52 Lispenard Street, moved out and owed rent, according to the document that was posted in a window of the building. A pedestrian walking past Monday night first spotted the rent notice, apparently posted by the company Barclay Development LLC.

City documents tie Barclay Development LLC to Murat Bugdaycay, who owns the building. Bugdaycay declined to comment when contacted by Patch on Friday.

The pedestrian, who asked that Patch not use her name, said she spotted the sign while killing time before an appointment she had in a neighboring building. The woman told Patch by phone that the space, part of the two-building complex at that address, looked unoccupied.

"Had I not seen that [rent notice] I would have just assumed that space was empty," she said.

When Patch visited the office Tuesday, the rent notice had already been removed. It is unknown if the outstanding amount has since been paid. A doorman said the media company was no longer in the space and that he hadn't seen anybody who worked for it for at least a month.

The company has been in turmoil since organizing the now infamous "Fyre Festival" in the Bahamas in April. In addition to about a dozen lawsuits from outraged investors and customers, Fyre Media is said to be the subject of a federal inquiry. The New York Times reported that federal prosecutors in New York and the FBI were both investigating the event. Spokespeople for both agencies declined to comment or confirm that an investigation was underway.

The music event, which was billed as a high-end, luxury retreat and promoted by celebrities, dissolved almost as soon as it started as it became clear that Fyre Media hadn't properly planned or prepared. In the months leading up to the festival, which was the brainchild of Fyre's founder Billy McFarland and his partner Ja Rule, it was advertised as an extravagant two-weekend getaway with top-of-the-line food, lodgings, music and ocean views.

Instead, guests who shelled out thousands of dollars found ramshackle tents and food packaged in styrofoam containers, not the luxury residences and gourmet meals they had paid for.

The cheapest package cost about $1,100 per person for a weekend, but more high-end accommodations were sold for between $12,4999 and $50,000 per person, according to one of the lawsuits.

Ticket holders showed up on the island at the end of April and, instead of festival grounds and housing, they found that the "accommodations were little more than a FEMA-style tent lined up with hundreds of others on the beach, barely standing up against the wind and rain," according to one of the suits. The festival was canceled on April 28.

The various legal claims are seeking millions in damages. Fyre Media has promised to refund tickets, although it remains unclear whether anyone has actually been reimbursed.

On top of these obstacles is the company's apparent problem with their TriBeCa lease. The seven-story building at 52 Lispenard St., which mostly houses condominiums, has one unit dedicated for commercial use — the ground-floor storefront that was previously occupied by Fyre.

According to the rent notice posted outside, Fyre's lease for the space was dated Aug. 16 of last year, months before the disastrous festival.

On its website, Fyre Media lists two brick-and-mortar locations for its operation: The office on Lispenard Street and a second mailing address in Portland, Oregon. The Oregon address is listed as the location for a co-working office called Central Office. A representative of Central Office said Fyre was no longer working out of the building, and hadn't been for at least a month.

Calls and emails to attorneys who have represented Fyre and McFarland in the past were not returned. Fyre lists no contact number on its website and emails sent to various Fyre accounts were not answered.

Lead image via Ciara McCarthy / Patch.