Developer's Quest For UES Tower Blocked By Next-Door Owner

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A developer seeking to knock down three Upper East Side buildings to construct a high-rise tower is suing the owner of a next-door building, saying their stubbornness is preventing them from starting demolition work.

The three five-story buildings at 1594-1598 Second Ave., near East 83rd Street, are owned by Lalezarian Properties, a developer that has built towers along the West Side of Manhattan. The next-door building at 1592, meanwhile, is controlled by Lemle & Sons, a local real estate dynasty with properties across the Upper East Side, records show.

Now, Lalezarian is seeking to demolish those three buildings, which were built in 1920 and until recently housed restaurants including Duke's and Firenze — though all ground-floor businesses have since closed.

Once the buildings are gone, Lalezarian is planning to build a 22-story apartment tower, court records show. But for demolition to begin, the developers are required by law to install protective coverings over the adjacent building at 1592 — and the owners have refused to grant the developers access to the building, they claim.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, the developers ask for a court order forcing the Lemles to allow access to the building at 1592. The suit includes weeks of emails between lawyers for the opposing sides, showing the Lemles' lawyers requesting more detailed plans about the new building.

"It appears that your client does not want to provide these plans leads me to believe that your client is trying to hide something," Allison Furman, the attorney for the Lemles, wrote in a Sept. 15 email.

"Why does your architect need the zoning plans to complete his review?" the developers' lawyer, Christina Preminger, responded. "To be completely candid, this request appears to be a delay tactic by your client."

On Sept. 21, the developers sent over the requested plans. Since then, they have not heard back, the lawsuit says.

"Despite Petitioner’s exhaustive efforts for nearly 6 months, including, but not limited to, several emails and telephone calls, to enter into license agreement for access to the Adjacent Premises and comply with Respondent’s requests, Petitioner can only construe Respondent’s pattern of avoidance and obstructionist responses to obtain irrelevant documents, such as the support of excavation drawings, as a de facto refusal of access to the Adjacent Premises," the lawsuit reads.

Furman, the Lemles' attorney, did not respond to a request for comment.

If it is ultimately constructed, the new building would have an address at 300 East 83rd St. It would stand 272 feet in height, featuring balconies and ground-floor commercial space, drawings show.

Demolition of the existing buildings would take about 10 to 12 weeks, while the new building would be constructed over three years.

Similar holdouts are delaying other new developments on the Upper East Side. A few blocks northeast, a rent-stabilized tenant is locked in a legal battle with the developer Extell, which is trying to tear down his First Avenue building for an unspecified project.

Have an Upper East Side news tip? Contact reporter Nick Garber at nick.garber@patch.com.

An earlier version of this story misstated the proposed height of the new building.

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• Lone Tenant Battles Extell Over Upper East Side Development
• Infamous UES Landlords Stymie Extell's Next Development: Report