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A married pair of real estate executives are embroiled in a yearslong battle with the bassist for the Strokes over a “treasure like” New York City greenspace, according to news reports.
Julie de Pontbriand, an executive at the sale-leaseback platform Easyknock, her husband Toby Dodd of Cushman & Wakefield and Nikolai Fraiture of The Strokes have been engaged in a legal battle since 2021 when Fraiture first sued Dodd over allegedly illegally combining apartment units. The battle intensified last week when Dodd and de Pontbriand filed a lawsuit of their own against the Fraitures, which was first reported by The Real Deal.
Dodd and de Pontbriand moved into 42 King St. in Manhattan in 2017, snagging a ground-floor unit and the rights to a private yard behind the building. Not long after, they purchased a small ground-floor unit next door at 44 King Street, which conferred them exclusive rights to that building’s rear garden as well.
Fraiture and his wife moved into 44 King Street in 2019, purchasing a ground-floor unit that included some of the basement.
The feud began in 2021 when Fraiture sued Dodd, claiming the units purchased by Dodd had been illegally combined, resulting in openings in a wall in the Dodds; apartment that made it impossible for Fraiture to do renovations on his own apartment due to building code. They also accused the co-op board at 44 King St. of turning a blind eye to the code violations because Dodd was the board’s vice president.
Last May, a judge ruled that the co-op board must ensure that the openings are sealed, according to The Real Deal.
Now, Dodd has accused the Fraitures of having a singular mission: Claiming the 45-by-40-foot garden behind 44 King St. as their own.
“The Fraitures’ motivation is simple: the Dodds have exclusive rights over the building’s garden and the Fraitures want it for themselves,” reads Dodds lawsuit against the rockstar.
Dodd and de Pontbriand accused the Fraitures of blocking at least eight of the plans to remedy the code violations submitted to the board. Their suit also accuses the Fraitures of fostering a tense environment at 44 King St.
“Other residents have commented that prior to the Fraitures’ arrival, 44 King was a very pleasant community in which to live, but the Fraitures have created an unsettling, tension filled environment for all,” the filing reads.
A lawyer for the Fraitures argued to the New York Post that the Dodds claim over the garden has no legal standing.
“Think of it this way: if I told you that I had a bridge to sell and you bought it from me, would that make you the owner of that bridge? No, it would not. Based upon everything I have seen to date, I believe that the Dodds’ claim of ownership is, at best, questionable,” attorney Bradley Silverbush told the newspaper.
The lush garden is the “real value” of the property due to its rarity in Manhattan. It was even hailed by the New York Times for its “treasure like” qualities Dodd and de Pontbriand have contended in court papers.
Dodd and de Pontbriand claim the Fraitures are now angling to have them booted from 44 King St by terminating their proprietary lease — the document that allows co-op shareholders to occupy their unit. By holding up the work.
While the Dodds were eventually able to repair the openings in their wall, the terms of their home purchase also required that they replace two windows in the rear of 44 King — a job they claimed the Fraitures are also blocking them from completing, putting them in violation of their home purchase contract.
Unless the court steps in, the Fraitures will “undoubtedly terminate the Dodds’ proprietary lease for their own personal gain,” the lawsuit reads.
The Fraitures’ attorney has denied all claims against them.
“The Fraitures are shocked and appalled at the numerous misleading and false allegations that have been made,” Silverbush told the Post. “We believe that the court got it right in the first case when it granted an order to compel the Dodds to close up the illegal openings between 42 and 44 King Street.”
The Strokes won the 2021 Grammy for best rock album in 2021 and have been an indie rock mainstay since their 2001 debut album Is This It, which included “Barely Legal” among its songs that have had a lasting impact on modern rock music.