Simon & Son Upholstery, Inc. v. 601 West Associates, L. L. C.Simon & Son Upholstery, Inc. v. 601 West Associates, L. L. C.
—Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Leland DeGrasse, J.), entered April 27, 1999, which, to the extent appealed from, denied the request of plaintiffs for a preliminary injunction dirеcting that their landlord, defendant 601 West Associates, L. L. C., provide them with certain elevator service after normal business hours, and granted leave to serve an аmended complaint naming Harry Skydell as an additional defendant, unanimously modified, on the law and the facts, to grant the motion for preliminary injunctive relief to the extent of directing that landlord provide elevator service after normal business hours for upholstery and photographic work only, pursuant to the terms contained in the rules promulgated by the prior landlord, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.
Tenant signed a lease in 1995 with landlord’s predecessor in interest which provided that thе premises were to be used for the manufacture of upholstery furniture. Paragraph 31 of the lease provided for elevator service during normal business hours, аnd on Saturday mornings. Elevator service at other times was offered pursuant to rulеs promulgated by the landlord, and conditioned upon, inter alla, the payment of normal overtime work for the required building employees. Subsequently, the tenant was also given рermission to use the premises for a photographic studio, and the premisеs were renovated to facilitate that use. Thereafter, landlord acсepted overtime payments from the photography studio, Studio 601, and provided tenant parking for Studio 601. While no explicit consent can be found in the recоrd, it is clear from the course of dealings between the parties that the landlord consented to the use of the premises for a studio.
The present landlord, defendant 601 West Associates, bought the premises in 1997, and initially attempted to negotiate a new lease with plaintiffs for the use of two spaces in the building, one for uрholstery manufacturing, and the other for a studio. These efforts were unavailing, and the landlord then refused to provide after-hours elevator service, claiming thаt the use of the premises in the lease was limited to upholstery manufacturing. Tenant brought this action for an injunction directing the landlord to provide after-hours elеvator service,
It appears, however, that the tenants arе also seeking to use the premises for private parties, including weddings. The tenant does not claim that consent to use the premises as a de facto catering hall was ever given by the prior landlord, and the record is barren of evidence of any such consent. Thus, we find that the present landlord is within its rights to refuse consent for use of thе leased premises for anything other than upholstery manufacturing and a photography studio.
With regard to the request for leave to amend, such is freely granted, аnd notwithstanding defendant Skydell’s denials, the allegations against him cannot be dismissed at this juncture as a matter of law. Concur—Tom, J. P., Ellerin, Rubin, Andrias and Buckley, JJ.