Bong LLC Sues Lower Manhattan Tenant Over Marijuana Smoke

NOHO, NY — Bong LLC, the owner and landlord of a building at 9 Great Jones Street in NoHo, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against its new tenant for running a commercial party space in a residential space – and filling it with marijuana smoke.

"The defendant (New York Pocket LLC) is regularly hosting weekly commercial parties, complete with disc jockeys, ear-splitting music at an extremely high volume, service of alcohol to numerous guests, and multiple partygoers wandering around the residential building," reads the lawsuit.

The lawyers for Bong LLC add that the landlord regularly receives complaints from other tenants about marijuana smoke wafting through the six-story building.

The unit was rented to New York Pocket LLC for residential and general office use only for 10 months beginning on Aug. 1 2021 and expiring on May 31 next year. The lease includes specific prohibitions against acts or conducts interfering with the right of other building tenants to peacefully enjoy their apartments, according to the court document.

Patch could not find a contact for New York Pocket LLC.

The lawsuit states the parties are being advertised on social media, have entry fees and appear to include an operational bar.

New York Pocket LLC runs an Instagram page called PinkySwearSoiree, where it advertises the parties, according to the lawsuit.

It appears, though, that PinkySwearSoiree deleted its Instagram page in the days after Patch published this article.

While the Instagram page didn't specify the location of the venue, the geotag for multiple of the posts is NoHo.

The Instagram page also links to a website called PinkySwearSoiree that is currently promoting two parties on Dec. 4 and Dec. 11. It gives you an RSVP option but it does not specify the location.

"Total nonsense," the operators of the PinkySwearSoiree Instagram page told Patch when asked about the lawsuit and if they planned to stop throwing parties.

The parties happen on a weekly basis, according to the lawsuit.

"My concerns are many, including building security, people without masks in this era of COVID, illegal smoking in a nonsmoking building and the legality of this 'event,' which now seems to be a weekly occurrence," a tenant of 9 Great Jones Street wrote in an email to the building's landlord.

The lease authored by Bong LLC specifies there is no smoking allowed within the building.

On Nov. 8, Bong LLC sent notice to New York Pocket LLC that it was in violation of its lease, and requested it to cease and desist from such conduct.

"After the Nov. 8, 2021 letter, Defendant not only failed to cease and desist from the parties; Defendant's conduct escalated to the holding of parties and events in the Premises on a weekly basis," reads the lawsuit.

The legal team for the building's owner is asking the judge to mandate that New York Pocket LLC pays no less than $500,000 with interest for its partygoing ways within the NoHo building at 9 Great Jones Street.