Tutoring Center Is 'Squatting' In Upper East Side Building: Suit

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An after-school learning center has been doing business an Upper East Side storefront without notifying or paying the property owner, a new lawsuit contends.

Filed Monday in state court, the lawsuit accuses the operators of Kumon Math and Reading Center of Upper East Side of acting as "squatters" in the small, 1,077-square-foot storefront at 201 East 77th St., just off Third Avenue.

The company bringing the suit is listed in court documents as 77 Retail Holdings LLC, but appears to be part of Ashkenazy Acquisition, a Midtown-based real estate firm that is renting the commercial space from the building's owner.

Ironically, Ashkenazy had gone to bat for Kumon last year, bringing a separate suit that accused the landlord of refusing to allow Ashkenazy to sublet the storefront to Kumon. That case is still winding its way through the courts.

Meanwhile, while Ashkenazy's lawsuit against the landlord was still pending, Kumon quietly moved into the building in June 2020 and began hosting classes, the new lawsuit alleges. The business has remained open since then, "without permission or consent" from the subletters, according to the lawsuit.

The named defendant is Shirley Dong, who is listed as the director of Kumon's Upper East Side location. The suit also accuses Dong and three co-defendants of failing to pay any of the $6,500 monthly rent they had agreed upon in last year's initial sublease — amounting to more than $110,000 since last June.

Dong did not immediately respond to a request for comment.