Harry Macklowe and clothier Eliot Rabin square off in court

Macklowe claims Rabin owes $100K in rent; fashion designer says he was pushed out

From left: Harry Macklowe, Eliot Rabin and Aby Rosen
From left: Harry Macklowe, Eliot Rabin and Aby Rosen

Harry Macklowe and his former tenant Eliot Rabin — owner of men’s and women’s clothing brand Peter Elliot — will be seeing each other in court.

Rabin alleges that Macklowe pushed him out of a store front at 150 East 72nd Street, which Macklowe bought in 2011. Macklowe sold the retail portion of the building to developer Aby Rosen for $19.9 million in February.

Rabin charges that Macklowe — before selling to Rosen — tried to push him out of one of two storefronts before the end of his lease in order to rent out the space to a higher-paying tenant.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Macklowe is suing Rabin for alleged nonpayment of more than $100,000 in rent, plus interest from last November until the retail space was sold.

In turn, Rabin filed a $6 million suit, claiming that Macklowe’s workmen caused damage, destroyed his stock room, merchandise and computers in an alleged effort to clear the store from the premises. Rabin also alleges that Macklowe’s men turned off air conditioning and heat. Rabin told the New York Post that he stopped paying rent when he had no heat. [NYP, 1st item] — Claire Moses