El Dorado co-op gets greenlight to evict transgender heiress Diane Wells

The New York State Supreme Court granted the celebrity-studded El Dorado co-op on Central Park West the green light to evict transgender heiress Diane Wells, the New York Daily News reported.

Wells owes over $230,000 in maintenance fines and legal fees, representatives for the building told the Daily News. The heiress, who has lived in a three-bedroom apartment at the El Dorado for 23 years, butted heads with the co-op board last year when she fell behind on maintenance payments and allegedly filled the hallways and an upstairs apartment with cigarette smoke.

Acting as her own lawyer, the self-proclaimed recluse failed to show up for court dates and subsequently defaulted in the case.

“I am an agoraphobic. Essentially, my life consists of lying in bed and brooding. I do not leave my apartment unless it’s imperative,” Wells told the Daily News.

She added, “There’s no way in hell they’re going to give me the boot.”

Wells has since hired a lawyer, and an appeals court froze the eviction order.

Steven Shore, the attorney for the El Dorado, at 300 Central Park West, said the building hopes the apartment will be sold, with the money from the sale put in escrow.

Meanwhile, a judge is determining whether the apartment belongs to Wells or her brother, James Cheney, who she has battled in Surrogate’s Court over the ownership for years, according to Shore. [NYDN] –Julie Strickland