A TriBeCa bar is suing its upstairs neighbor – for being too rowdy.
As punishment, it wants her booted from the building, along with the owner of her spacious digs: trendy restaurateur and former Man Ray partner Carlos Almada.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the owners of the pint-sized pub Smith and Mills say their neighbor Victoria Hillstron has been driving their customers from drink with her over-the-top antics.
The suit says the tiny terror, who lives directly above the Greenwich Street bar, has also been claiming to be developer Bruce Ratner’s sister – threatening to use her clout to get cops in trouble with the mayor’s office if they don’t take her allegations against the restaurant seriously.
A source close to Ratner said she is not related to the Atlantic Yards developer.
The suit says the hole-in-the-wall restaurant started having problems with Hillstron – who lives in the large loft apartment owned by Almada – before it even opened.
She called police and the Buildings Department to “falsely [claim] violations of various building codes” and noise codes, and even “stood in front of plaintiff’s establishment to prevent construction from taking place,” the suit says.
Her antics “successfully delayed construction,” the suit says.
She grew even more belligerent, standing outside of the bar’s doors and “directing patrons not to enter,” the suit says.
She’s also made her way inside, “including the basement, smashing glassware, liquor wine and other bottles,” and “has started screaming” inside the restaurant, “seeking to drive out customers, and she has succeeded in doing so,” the legal papers say.
The petite Hillstron kept quiet yesterday, enlisting the help of four workers from a restaurant next door to huddle around her and keep a reporter and photographers at bay.
The suit also names landlord Almada, owner of the hip Automat restaurant in London, charging that he’s “fully aware” of what his friend is doing, and doing nothing to stop it. Almada did not return an e-mail for comment.
The suit seeks unspecified money damages from the pair and a court order keeping Hillstron out of their hair and kicking her and Almada out of their building.
Additional reporting by Melissa Jane Kronfeld