The Moxy Hotel in Williamsburg is in business, despite being hit this spring with a ruling that deemed its zoning improper. Court filings show Mayor Eric Adams’ former chief of staff Frank Carone may have something to do with that.
David Lichtenstein’s Lightstone Group retained Carone as its lawyer shortly after opening in March, the New York Daily News reported. Carone is no longer part of the administration, but is running Adams’ reelection campaign.
The Moxy was able to open on March 7, only days after a judge took issue with its underlying zoning agreement, because the Department of Buildings had previously issued a temporary certificate of occupancy. That certificate was scheduled to expire at the end of May.
Upon being retained by Lightstone, Carone began pushing for an expedited reargument of the dispute. In a letter to the judge, Carone said shutting down even a portion of the hotel would do “irreparable harm” to the hotel and its developer.
The judge didn’t respond to Carone’s letter in a May 25 hearing. The same day, however, the Buildings Department gave the hotel a temporary certificate of occupancy through Aug. 23.
Simultaneous to Carone taking the case to the courts, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, Menashe Shapiro, was in contact with the DOB regarding the hotel, sources told the Daily News. From January to March, a government relations firm was also lobbying Shapiro on behalf of Lightstone.
Shapiro declined to comment to the outlet. A spokesperson for Carone said there was no contact between the former chief of staff and Shaprio, Adams or any administration officials regarding Moxy.
Carone is not allowed to lobby the administration until January 2024 due to ethics law. While he hasn’t been accused of violating the law, one government watchdog pointed to ethical concerns.
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The zoning dispute dates back years to a four-story building adjacent to the 216-room hotel at 353 Bedford Avenue. Lightstone allegedly excluded the neighboring lot in a 2019 filing, only for it to later amend and add three tax lots without getting consent from the entity that owns the neighboring lot.
A representative for the neighboring property involved in the zoning dispute said a DOB official wrote that no certificate of occupancy — temporary or permanent — would be issued until the “audit” into the hotel controversy was completed. That audit remains ongoing and could ultimately result in the revocation of Lightstone’s operating permits.
— Holden Walter-Warner