A Texas couple turned a designer Manhattan condo into a virtual flophouse by renting their unit to transient, hard partying guests, a new lawsuit alleges.
Robert and Marilyn Blodgett, of Houston, have allegedly used 3K “as a vacation rental property,” drawing a “revolving door of complete strangers,” despite repeated cease and desist demands from the condo board of 340 E. 23rd Street, the Manhattan Supreme Court suit states.
The couple owns a vacation website called Luxe VR, which markets high-end properties across the U.S. to travelers for stays of a few days to many weeks.
At least 27 tourists have bedded down in 3K since August 2011, but it was recent guest Malcolm Kee, who sent residents into a tizzy, according to court documents.
Kee, in his mid-twenties, checked in on Jan. 14, allegedly threw three ragging parties, invited friends who threatened and cursed out building staff, and still hasn’t checked out, the lawsuit claims.
Attempts to curb Kee’s alleged bad behavior have proven unsuccessful. “Much to the horror of the residents of neighboring unit 3L, Kee, his travel companion, or one of his party guests responded in a retaliatory manner by defacing 3L’s doorway with an obscene depiction of male genitalia,” court papers claim.
“It’s amazing to me that you could be in this luxury condo building and pay millions of dollars for your apartment and right next door you have some crazy person,” said the condo board’s attorney, Steven Sladkus.
For $299 a night tourists “can experience living like a real Manhattanite,” a website for the rental boasts, adding that the address is a short walk to “famous restaurants and bars and Third and First Avenue.”
The board of the Gramercy Condominium, by celebrity designer Phillippe Starck, wants to shut down the illegal hotel and unspecified monetary damages.
Sladkus said the practice of renting out units on a short-term basis has proliferated in the past year.
“Unfortunately there’s a big trend lately for people renting out their condo units on a short-term basis,” said Sladkus. The practice “not only violates most building’s bylaws, but also violates the Multiple Dwelling Law that says essentially you can’t have paying guests for less than 30 days.”
Sladkus said the unit’s owners, the Blodgetts, have completely ignored three requests to stop the rentals. The Blodgetts did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment.