Harlem Chicken Joint Faces Eviction After Moritorium Ends

HARLEM, NY — A Harlem fried chicken joint may be among the first casualties of New York's expired eviction moratorium, as its landlord filed court papers to force the eatery to pay back months in back rent — or else, presumably, face displacement.

The owner of the building at 560-580 West 125th St., on the corner of Broadway, filed suit in state court on Friday against its tenant, listed as "Nana Chicken Corp." It alleges that the restaurant has paid no rent since June 2020, and has been occupying a property under an expired lease since last summer

Though the business's actual name does not appear in the suit, all signs point to it being Lincoln Fried Chicken, which occupies a storefront in the row of one-story businesses that also includes Subway, Duane Reade and a C-Town supermarket.

According to the landlord, who is named in the suit as "560 West 125th LLC," Lincoln's owner signed its current lease in 2015, and apparently made all rent payments for the ensuing five years.

That changed in July 2020, when the monthly rent of $4,923 was never paid, according to the lawsuit. The non-payments continued through June 30, 2021, when the lease expired, the suit says.

All told, Lincoln has racked up more than $137,000 in debts, its landlord alleges — but has been protected by the statewide pause on commercial and residential evictions, which was enacted in 2020, and which the restaurant has taken "full advantage of," according to the lawsuit.

On Jan. 15, however, the state let the moratorium to expire, allowing eviction cases to once again flood the courts.

An employee who answered the phone at Lincoln on Monday declined to make the manager or owner available for comment. The landlord is not named in the suit, but city records list the building owner as Jay Irgang.

In the suit, Irgang's LLC asks a judge to award them all unpaid debts since July 2021, when the lease expired. The suit makes no explicit demand to evict the restaurant, though that would be the most likely consequence if it cannot cover the hefty debt.