UPPER WEST SIDE — The longtime seafood restaurant Ocean Grill closed its doors for good Monday while announcing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against its landlord, claiming the owner violated a lease agreement by blocking the eatery's entrance with construction equipment.
The 18-year-old restaurant at 384 Columbus Ave. and West 78th Street is suing to recover no less than $6.3 million in damages due to the "significant decrease in the restaurant's visibility" and "substantially diminished" business during an ongoing condo conversion project undertaken by its landlord, the suit claims. It was filed Monday in state Supreme Court.
While Ocean Grill is seeking to vacate the space by the end of the year, the restaurant argues that it's been effectively evicted already because of the landlord's alleged breach of lease. The current lease runs through Nov. 30, 2021.
Ocean Grill suffered damages of $1.49 million and the loss of $4.87 million in income between Jan. 1, 2013, and Nov. 30, 2015 as a result of the placement of equipment and scaffolding in front of its entrance, water damage, and the loss of use of its sidewalk cafe, among other construction-related issues, the suit states.
GTIS Partners, the current landlord, is in the midst of converting 44 apartments into 24 larger condo units in the building where Ocean Grill is a ground-floor tenant.
An employee of the restaurant said GTIS Partners took over the project after acquiring shares from Newcastle Realty Services, which originally bought the landmarked 101 W. 78th St. building for $85 million in 2012.
A judge ordered Newcastle to halt construction last January after state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman discovered the company was illegally pushing out rent-controlled tenants, the attorney general's office said.
In an agreement reached in June, Newcastle agreed to let rent-regulated tenants live rent-free for two years and pay $1.2 million in fines and legal fees, Schneiderman's office said.
Ocean Grill was aware the building might undergo construction when signing its lease, but argues in the suit that the placement of barricades, scaffolding and construction equipment did not "allow maximum means of lighting and means of ingress and egress."
GTIS Partners put a hoist — an elevator used to lift heavy materials — right next to Ocean Grill's entrance, when it could have put it elsewhere, a restaurant representative said.
The construction also caused water leaks and flooding, as well as excessive dust and noise, according to the suit.
GTIS Partners did not immediately return a request for comment.
