Republican mayoral candidate and supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis’ real estate company, Big Apple Real Estate, has been hit with a lien of more than $100,000 for not paying a water bill at a Gristedes location in Chelsea, the New York Post reported.
Big Apple apparently owes $113,421 in water charges at the 15,403-square-foot supermarket on the ground floor of The London Terrace Towers condominium at 215 Ninth Avenue, the Post said.
The condo building’s lawyer, Lisa Smith of Wolf Haldenstein, told the Post that while Gristedes regularly pays its $3,556 bill for common charges each month, it hasn’t paid its water bill in “years.”
“They had some cooling equipment that failed and they had to go onto city water,” Smith told the Post. “We know exactly what’s been attributed [to them].”
Meanwhile, Gristedes counsel Emily Pankow told the Post, “We are unaware there was a lien filed and it comes as a shock.”
Catsimatidis formally launched his mayoral bid in January, as previously reported. [NYP] –Hayley Kaplan