Landlord Suing Kemistry Lounge for Four Months Back Rent and Eviction

The battle of is now in the hands of the Kings County Civil Court of the City of New York.

On June 25, a petition was filed by the landlord of the 245-person capacity space on Flatbush Avenue, between Prospect Place and St. Marks Avenue, under the name of 260 Flatbush Realty LLC against Kemistry Lounge Entertainment Group LLC demanding four months of unpaid rent, a total of $60,000, plus property taxes, $6,078.81, for a total of $66,078.81.

The petition, submitted by 260 Flatbush Avenue Realty’s attorney Jess Berkowitz, also states that three days before the proceeding that “the rent due or possession of the premises has been demanded personally from respondent tenant.”

Now, the landlord is seeking the “removal” of Kemistry Lounge. The end of the petition states:

“WHEREFORE Petitioner requests final judgment awarding possession of the premises to the Petitioner-Landlord; the issuance of a warrant to remove Respondent-Tenant from possession of the premises; a judgment for rent and additional rent in arrears against Respondent-Tenant for $66,078.81, with interest from June 1, 2012; a judgment of at least $2,500 for the attorneys’ fees of Petitioner; and the costs and disbursements of this proceeding.”

The landlord and attorney did not return phone calls for comment.

The owner of Kemistry Lounge, James Brown who also owns Atomic Wings on Ninth Street, did not return multiple phone calls. His representative, Peter Flores, did not give a comment after multiple requests.

Kemistry with a full dinner menu, live jazz music, DJs and dancing for “private events.” Its proposed hours were Monday through Wednesday open until 11 p.m., Thursday until 1 a.m., Friday until 2 a.m., and Saturday until 3 a.m.

Soon after the plans for the lounge hatched, a community group of neighbors who live on Prospect Place, where an exit of the club opens on to the residential street, formed under the moniker Prospect Place Neighbors (PPN). They rallied together so their opposition was more cohesive and concentrated and to make sure that the proposed club did not have bottle service and closed earlier during the week and weekends.

But, after two months and two meetings, on April, 24.

In May, the battle between Kemistry and the community rose to the local government level when Councilman Levin, Assemblywoman Millman and State Senator Montgomery .

Kemistry Lounge still has yet to submit an application to the SLA for a liquor license and have not yet responsed to the petition. 

One of PPN’s member Barbara Kurka, who lives two doors down from Kemistry’s space on Prospect Place, said she knew about the lawsuit against the lounge.

“We were not looking for Kemistry to be there with the model that was envisioned,” Kurka said last week while walking on Prospect Place. “We support business but it needs to be an appropriate business model and Kemistry wasn’t appropriate as it was.”

Another member of PPN and a lawyer, Peter Adelman, also said that Kemistry Lounge wasn’t the right fit for the community.

“PPN has always thought this club’s size, bottle service and hours was site inappropriate,” Adelman said.

But he explained that he isn’t going to say the show is over until he knows for sure, for no one has been able to reach James Brown. 

“Until we know with certainty that Kemistry is not going forward, we stand ready to contest their liquor application," Adelman said. "So, we’ll have to see how this plays out.”