Strokes bassist and realtor at war over a secret garden in NYC
He’s between a rock star and a hard place.
A real estate exec who plunked down $3.3 million for a unique Soho apartment is battling Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture over the yard behind their homes, claiming the musician is “fixated” on the green space — and has made life in the building hell in his quest to obtain it.
Toby Dodd of Cushman & Wakefield, and his wife, Julie de Pontbriand, moved into 42 King St. in 2017, snagging the ground-floor apartment and private rear yard.
They later snatched up the garden next door at 44 King St., along with a small ground-floor room in that building for a song, shelling out $300,000, court papers show.
In 2019, Fraiture — whose band won a Grammy in 2021 for best rock album — and his wife, Ilona, bought a ground-floor unit in 44 King and the basement.
They sued in 2021, claiming the units purchased by the Dodds had been illegally combined, and prevented them from doing desired renovations.
Nikolai Fraiture is now president of the board at 44 King Street. Amy Harris/Invision/AP
The private garden is contiguous with the adjacent green space of neighbor 42 King Street. NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK
An illustration from court papers shows how the ground-floor spaces are divided between 42 and 44 King Street, where the area circled in red is in dispute.
Now the Fraitures have one mission: to claim 44 King’s garden as their own, claim the Dodds, who filed their own lawsuit against Fraitures last week.
The approximately 45-by-40-foot area is the “real value” of the property and so unusual in Manhattan, it was hailed by The New York Times for its “treasure-like quality,” Dodd and Pontbriand contend in court papers.
“The Fraitures’ motivation is simple: the Dodds have exclusive rights over the building’s garden and the Fraitures want it for themselves,” according to court papers.
Toby Dodd and his wife snagged the garden and its apartment for $300K. LinkedIn Toby Dodd
Calling the Dodds the owners of 44 King Street’s private garden is a “false assumption,” a lawyer for the Fraitures told The Post.
“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 said.
Dodd and Pointbriand claim the Fraitures have been trying to unfairly oust the couple from 44 King Street and its yard.
“The Dodds have never wavered on their unwillingness to part with the Garden. … Rather than accept that reality, the Fraitures launched a still-ongoing scheme to force the Dodds out of 44 King and take the Garden for themselves,” according to the lawsuit.
The Fraitures unwavering battle has made life miserable in 44 King, the Dodds claim.
“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,” according to the lawsuit, which was first reported by the Real Deal.
A Manhattan judge granted the Dodds’ request to prevent the Fraitures from booting them from 44 King until a court appearance next month.
Source: New York Post
