Harlem Costco Sues Landlord After Customers Get Stuck In Elevator

HARLEM, NY — The warehouse retailer Costco is suing its landlord at a sprawling East Harlem shopping center, saying it has been neglecting the store's elevators — leading to an incident earlier this month where customers got stuck and had to be rescued.

Since around six months ago, the four elevators that run between Costco and the garages and other shops at the East River Plaza mall have been frequently out of service — often three at a time, Costco alleges in its new lawsuit.

Thus far in August, at least one elevator has been out of service "at all times," according to Costco, whose store in the East 117th Street complex spans 110,000 square feet.

"When all four elevators are not in service, there is no safe way for Costco customers to move their carts from the Costco store to their cars in the parking garage," Costco's attorneys wrote.

Things came to a head on Aug. 11, when two passengers became trapped in an elevator and had to be extracted by the fire department — which was forced to "destroy the doors" on two elevators and shut down the entire system to save them, the lawsuit says.

Costo says the elevator problems are the fault of its landlord, Blumenfeld Development Group, whose 30-year, $5 million-per-year lease with the retailer requires it to keep the four elevators in working order.

Costco wrote to Blumenfeld in March, saying that it was violating the lease by letting the elevators deteriorate. The landlord assured Costco that it would hire a "full-time elevator engineer" to address the problems, but nothing changed in the ensuing months — and Blumenfeld would not commit to Costo's request this month that it upgrade all four elevators, Costco says.

Attorneys for Blumenfeld, which is named in the lawsuit through an LLC, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The lawsuit was first reported by Commercial Observer.

This is not Blumenfeld's first time facing a legal challenge related to upkeep of East River Plaza: in 2011, an Upper West Side woman was awarded $45 million after she was hit by a falling shopping cart that had been tossed by teens from an overpass at the mall, leaving her with brain damage.