While Jared Kushner’s father-in-law has pledged to “drain the swamp,” one of the young real estate mogul’s tenants claims his Greenwich Village building is a real quagmire.
Eran Wasjwol, who ran a grilled cheese Meltkraft franchise at Kushner’s 101 Macdougal Street until this past summer, filed a lawsuit against the landlord claiming the building had a shady electrical hookup and a faulty sewage system that backed up under the restaurant’s floorboards, the New York Post reported.
Kushner Companies bought the five-story building in 2015 as part of a 16-property portfolio spread across Manhattan and Brooklyn. Kushner paid $132 million for the portfolio.
Wasjwol’s lawsuit claims Kushner was largely an absentee landlord.
“Reaching the new landlord proved very difficult,” the lawsuit says.
According the lawsuit, the building was either stealing electricity from the mainline or from another building, causing the panini heaters to short circuit. The 96-year-old sewage system was also faulty, causing the pipes to back up and force sewage to seep up through the floor, the suit alleges.
“Feces were everywhere, forcing now-disgruntled employees to clean the space,” the lawsuit claims.
Wasjwol shut the eatery down in July, fearing the rigged electric system could result in a deadly explosion.
He is suing for $550,000, while Kushner is countersuing Wasjwol’s company for $48,000 for breaking its lease. That case is still pending.
Kushner may be spending even more time away from his properties as he is reportedly close to having a top role in the Donald Trump White House. [NYP] – Rich Bockmann