To heck with the $17 million real-estate deal, bring on the wedding!
A Manhattan judge has ordered the sale of Sky Studios to billionaire Ron Burkle be put on ice until after the breathtaking space makes good on its deal to hold a Brooklyn woman’s wedding there.
“We’re obviously very pleased with the judge’s decision,” said Larry Kutcher, the lawyer for bride-to-be Michelle Barry. “It’s in favor of matrimony, good karma and is to the benefit of all brides everywhere.”
Barry and her fiancé, Jesse Nemeth, signed a deal in February to tie the knot on Sept. 15 at Sky Studios, a breathtaking penthouse in the Village that was featured on “Sex and the City” and which played host to Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld’s “I do’s.”
In July, however, the couple received a cancellation notice from the Broadway site telling them their nuptials had been nixed.
The notice cited Sky Studios’ legal spat with its neighbors at 704 Broadway, who’d sued them in January claiming use of the penthouses for large events was against zoning regulations.
In his decision, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling suggested the site was pulling a fast one, because it had been aware of the zoning-regulation dispute when it signed the contract with Barry.
Sky Studios, the judge noted, “entered into the contract and then opted to cancel it around the same time that it publicly announced that it had decided to sell the penthouses to a third-party buyer for $17 million cash. Thus, it is apparent that defendant is not using the law as a mean to promote the public good but rather as a way to promote its own good.”
Tingling said marriage is more important.
“A bride’s wedding day should be one of the happiest occasions in her life. It is a time filled with love and happiness, hopes and dreams. [Barry] has dreamed of this day since she was a little girl and has spent much time and energy planning a beautiful wedding for herself and her fiancé,” and Sky Studios “breathtaking views, garden, and other unique characteristics make it plaintiff’s ideal location for her upcoming nuptials,” he wrote, ordering the sale halted until after her wedding.
The judge apparently felt more strongly about the venue then Barry herself – Sky Studios lawyer Richard Pilson said she took a “buyout” from his client after the judge handed down his decision. “That was it. The case is over,” he said.
Tingling’s ruling could still mean wedding bells, because his ruling can be used as precedent for the four other couples who are suing the site.