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Notorious Landlord Steve Croman Stayed in Office 7 Months Past Lease

By Allegra Hobbs | August 29, 2017 7:23am
 Steve Croman's 9300 Realty was given one more chance to move out of its Broadway office space by Monday.
Steve Croman's 9300 Realty was given one more chance to move out of its Broadway office space by Monday.
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DNAinfo/Allegra Hobbs

NOHO — A controversial landlord being investigated for tenant harassment was given one last chance to clear out of his real estate management office after it had overstayed its lease seven months past its expiration date, according to court documents.

Steve Croman's 9300 Realty Management had already overstayed its welcome at the office at 632 Broadway when an initial agreement to extend its lease was reached. But it missed the second deadline to get out, leading to a holdover proceeding to evict it this month, records show, though a judge put a hold on those eviction proceedings as long as Croman's staff cleared out by Monday.

The company's lease at the NoHo office expired Dec. 31, 2016, but when the company didn't clear out in time it reached an agreement with landlord Renaissance 632 Broadway, LLC in February 2017 to let it stay in the space through the end of June, records show.

According to the February stipulation, if 9300 was not out of the premises by June 30, Renaissance could file a holdover proceeding requesting a final judgment of possession and an eviction warrant against the realty company. 

But as that deadline came and went, Croman's crew stayed in the office, according to a holdover proceeding then filed by Renaissance's attorney, which modified the initially agreed-upon June move out to July 31.

A proceeding, dated Aug. 1, requests a final judgment of possession and warrant of eviction against Croman and his company, and requests it cough up the holdover rate for the extra days spent in the premises.

The two parties quickly reached an agreement allowing Croman's team to stay in the office through Aug. 28 — a warrant of eviction would be stayed through that date only, according to a judgment signed by New York Civil Court Judge Debra Rose Samuels on Aug. 9, who awarded possession of the space to Renaissance.

The defendants agreed to pay $35,976.04 for the extra days of occupancy, the judgment reads.

The realty company posted a cheerful notice to its door Monday notifying tenants of the move, according to EV Grieve.

Croman is a controversial landlord whose alleged attempts to evict tenants through harassment techniques have recently made him the focus of two investigations by the Attorney General's office.

After a yearlong investigation by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office uncovered Croman had lied about his rental income to score millions in refinancing loans, Croman in June pleaded guilty to several fraud charges and will be sentenced next month to one year at a Rikers Island jail facility.

A separate civil case by Schneiderman's office against Croman remains ongoing, that one alleging the landlord attempted to oust rent-stabilized tenants with aggressive harassment tactics. 

A spokesman for 9300 Realty said the arrangement was a mutually agreed-upon extension as the company moves into a new office space.

"9300 Realty moved to a new office today. Our office lease had come to an end and we filed a mutually agreed upon extension to the lease with our landlord while we finished the fit out in our new space," said the spokesman.

An attorney for Renaissance would not speak about the case except to say the two parties reached an agreement.

The petition can be read in full below.

Renaissance v. Croman Real Estate by DNAinfoNewYork on Scribd

The judgment staying an eviction warrant through Aug. 28 can be read in full below.

Judgment Renaissance v. Croman by DNAinfoNewYork on Scribd