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Home of Punk-Rock Battles for Its Home

CBGB is embroiled in a dispute with its landlord and faces eviction.

By BEN SISARIO

Published: March 7, 2005

For more than 30 years, CBGB, the eternally crumbling downtown nightclub, has with ragged pride withstood every hand the neighborhood and the music scene have dealt it: punk-rock, death metal, crack addicts, city inspectors and bad plumbing. But it may have met its match in one of the city's most respected charity group.

In a scrappy Bowery real-estate battle, CBGB has been in and out of court for much of the last four years with its landlord, the Bowery Residents' Committee, a nonprofit organization that helps the homeless. The dispute concerns enough unpaid rent to finance dozens of punk bands as well as numerous building violations that leave a paper trail as thick as the layers of fliers stapled to the club's walls.

In an arrangement known to few of the club's patrons, CBGB subleases its spaces at 313 and 315 Bowery from the organization, which shelters 175 homeless people in the floors above the club. In 2001, the organization began efforts to collect more than $300,000 in back rent from the club. Although much of that has now been paid, the club faces eviction over remaining debts of about $75,000, both parties say.

Both organizations have dug in their heels and claim a moral right to the property.

"We're an institution," said Hilly Kristal, the grandfatherly 73-year-old who started CBGB - with plans to stage "country, bluegrass and blues," not punk - in late 1973. "I think we're an important part of this community. The city uses us in their Olympics ad, along with the Statue of Liberty."

In the opposite corner is Muzzy Rosenblatt, the executive director of the Bowery Residents' Committee, who resents diverting the organization's money to legal expenses to get what he says is due from an uncooperative tenant.

"I am not going to subsidize CBGB at the expense of homeless people," Mr. Rosenblatt said.

The organization took a 45-year lease on the building in 1993, and subleased CBGB its spaces - the main club is at 315 Bowery, and its quieter Gallery and basement space are next door - for 12 years. That sublease expires in August, and Mr. Kristal said the organization offered to renew it, but would double the club's rent, to $40,000 a month, or about $55 per square foot. That would bring the space in line with the highest rate paid for new property on the white-hot Bowery real-estate market.

Mr. Rosenblatt declined to comment on the terms of the lease renewal. "I'm trying to get him to comply with the old lease," he said.

According to court documents from 2001, CBGB owed the Bowery Residents' Committee more than $300,000 in back rent and agreed to a monthly payment plan for its debt and all new rent charges. A stipulation in the agreement states that if the club did not make its payments on time, it could be evicted immediately.

CBGB has been paying back its debt dutifully, both sides say. But when the organization discovered that the club was not paying the annual rent increases scheduled in its lease, it gave the club notice to pay within seven days, as required by law, but the club has challenged the debt in court. A hearing is scheduled for later this month.

The case pits two of the most recognizable downtown institutions against each other in a battle for space that few considered very valuable until recently. The Bowery Residents' Committee has vans that trawl the city offering help to the homeless, and operates 18 rehabilitation centers and shelters. CBGB is the organization's only commercial tenant, Mr. Rosenblatt said.

In the 1970's, CBGB was the dank incubator for much of the punk and art-rock that came out of New York, with concerts by the Ramones, Patti Smith, Television, Blondie and the Talking Heads, among others. It has continued to present bands of every stripe - mostly of the loud stripe, though - and is one of the few rock clubs known by name throughout the world. CBGB Fashions, a company Mr. Kristal set up to sell T-shirts and other merchandise, grosses about $2 million a year, he said.

"Millions and millions of musicians in this world think of CBGB as a home base," Mr. Kristal said proudly.

But real-estate experts and people close to the situation say both sides have flawed cases, and that a judge's decision in the latest hearing will be difficult to predict.

Jerry H. Goldfeder, a lawyer who specializes in elections and landlord-tenant disputes, said the two groups' fame would be unlikely to sway a judge in either side's favor.

"Presumably, a judge would make the same legal determination," Mr. Goldfeder said, "whether it's CB's or a doctor's office or a bodega."

There's more to this story...

http://www.nypress.com/18/8/pagetwo/newshole2.cfm

Great posts. Hilly was sounding a bit entitled in the first artitle - that would be a disastrous tack to take. The second article makes a lot of realistic points. He may just have to move the club and name to another location more fitting its current standing. Sad but true - who knows, it might even spark a rebirth. The Giants don't still play in the polo grounds but they're still the New York Giants right?! Hmm, bad example [:(]

sadly i feel there are no artist deserving of playing cbgb's these days, JMO.
i see 14 yo with cbgb shirts and wonder if they even know what it is? they think its a brand name punk rockers like blink wear or something, its the punk fubu i think.
i think it means cute boy girl bad or something.

Historic that CBGB may be... maybe it is time for the club to go.

Anyway no offence but out here in SF The Mabuhay (The Mab or Fab Mab) was THE best punk club ever!!!

You had the best show's ever check this out----> http://www.jneomarvin.com/scrap.htm

You had big mean skinheads starting fights with guns and knives

Heroine Junkies plucking them selves out on "piss alley"

Drunk Valley Girls showing up buying you beer

When your 15 (1983) that really made an impression on you it was rad.



cheers,
ql

newwavepop - agreed - it's just a place for unknown bands to play and the only people in the audience are family and friends. It's like the Bitter End. I hope Hilly made enough money on licensing the logo to live comfortably on. Unfortunately what happens to people like him when they retire is die. They need work to keep them alive.

Quite Life - I agree it's time to close or at least move. The Bowery is becoming a trendy neighborhood full of multi-million dollar co-ops. I'll miss seeing the awning. It always takes me back to the first time I went there when I was 18. I was scared as S*%#.

<center><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v59/ekahob/joey_lives_remix-01.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"></center>

Some good articles on CBGB's and the current state of the Bowery at (http://www.villagevoice.com/)

[quote][i]Originally posted by ekahob[/i]
<br>newwavepop - agreed - it's just a place for unknown bands to play and the only people in the audience are family and friends. It's like the Bitter End. I hope Hilly made enough money on licensing the logo to live comfortably on. Unfortunately what happens to people like him when they retire is die. They need work to keep them alive.

Quite Life - I agree it's time to close or at least move. The Bowery is becoming a trendy neighborhood full of multi-million dollar co-ops. I'll miss seeing the awning. It always takes me back to the first time I went there when I was 18. I was scared as S*%#.

<center><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v59/ekahob/joey_lives_remix-01.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"></center>
[/quote]


wow i wish i could have seen it in those days, yeah on one hands its sad because it represents a very important time in music, but at the same time, that period is gone and it really doesnt need to be there, all that can happen is its rep get tarnished staying open past its life.
though it would be cool if they could find some way to keep the banner as you see out front there over the door in memory somehow.

theres a place in tulsa called cains ballroom, its been open for ever, it of course use to be a dancehall ballroom, i went there in the early or mid 90's to se the ahem ahem misfits when they reformed.
and walked all around the place, well a few weeks later im in barnes and noble and see some punk photo book with a lot of cool vintage images, and im looking through and see a picture of sid viscious sitting on the bar right under the cains ballroom banner.
and that really felt cool to know that a crap town like this had someone like the pistols come through on there famous shitty small american town tour.
and that i was there, likewisw there is an ancient church now fleamarket down the street, and there is this decreped old stage rotting upstairs, and theres a sign there above that says bob wills and all the other country legends played there.
so its really cool getting that feeling of what once was here, so it will be very sad to see CBGB's go.


quiet life.i have a huge obsession with the san francisco 70's punk scene, i am in love with the original nuns, and with all the stuff ive read and heard im amazed how little the mabuhay and the deaf club get credit for being there.
the british and new york punk scenes get touted like nothing else was happening.
just like im sure the san francisco 60s scene gets touted like nothing else was going on anywhere.

I think they should just renovate the place and turn it into a theme restaurant or something. The village seems to be going in that direction anyway.
Anyone see the Visa commercial with CBGB's?

it's sad...I hate to see it go...I still have a CBGB's t-shirt that I had taken from an ex before we broke up...still wear it to the gym sometimes....but anyway, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end!

Sadly, I have never been to CBGBs, I have only been to New York once and I was the only person from my group that wanted to go...

I agree with most here the place is a historical landmark...

Las Vegas!!! Little Steven to hold rally in Washington Square Park!!

An update from today's NY Times:

August 1, 2005
With Negotiations Stalled, Clock Ticks Down for CBGB in Rent Dispute
By BEN SISARIO

Hilly Kristal was feeling optimistic.

Though CBGB, the landmark Bowery rock club he founded in 1973, is embroiled in a legal dispute with its landlord and faces eviction at the end of the month when its lease expires, there were signs, Mr. Kristal said, that an agreement would be reached soon.

"I think it's going to be settled amicably," he said by phone last week from his office at the club, where, at 73, he still arrives early each morning and answers the phone with a quick, cordial "CB's."

But as Mr. Kristal discussed the situation, his attitude changed. He said he was certain that his landlord - the nonprofit Bowery Residents' Committee, which aids about 8,000 homeless people each year - "wants me out," and he soured on the prospects of a new lease.

Then he excused himself to go to a meeting where, Mr. Kristal said, he would discuss moving the club to Las Vegas.

"If New York doesn't want me," he said, "then I'll try to do something else. There are people out there who do want me."

With 31 days left in its lease, CBGB's future remains uncertain, and though a motley group of celebrities, public relations specialists and punk activists have worked steadily in recent weeks to help the club negotiate with its landlord, no agreement has been reached, and stomachs have tightened all around.

Today, Steven Van Zandt, of the E Street Band and "The Sopranos," who has been leading the celebrity volunteer effort to save the club, is to announce an Aug. 31 rally, planned for Washington Square Park. Depending on the success of a proposal that Mr. Van Zandt's team has submitted to the committee on behalf of the club, the rally could be CBGB's last hurrah or the start of its new life.

"This is the last rock 'n' roll symbol left," Mr. Van Zandt said. "We have seen one iconic rock 'n' roll venue after the other disappear, and we finally said, 'Let's draw a line here, and save at least one.' "

If CBGB closes, it will join a number of downtown clubs that have shut down in the last several years. This year Fez and the Luna Lounge have closed because of development, and last year the Bottom Line was shut over a debt of more than $185,000 to its landlord, New York University.

Four years ago the Bowery Residents' Committee sued CBGB for about $300,000 in unpaid rent, which the club has been paying back, both sides say. But early this year the landlord, which has a 45-year lease on the building and subleases the ground floor spaces and basements of 315 and 313 Bowery to the club, found that CBGB owed an additional $75,000 because it had not been paying the scheduled increases in its monthly rent, and the case landed back in court.

Mr. Kristal has said he did not pay the increases because he was never billed for them. The case has been in Manhattan Civil Court since February; Judge Joan M. Kenney has not yet ruled. But the committee has listed the property for September occupancy at a rate that would more than double the current rent of $19,000 a month.

For Muzzy Rosenblatt, the executive director of the Bowery Residents' Committee, the matter is simple: CBGB has a debt and it must be paid.

"I don't understand why," he said, "if they admit they owe it, they want to withhold money that goes to help homeless people."

He estimated that the dispute, between the lost rent and the legal expenses over it as well as a flurry of building violations, has cost the organization about $200,000, which "would put enough outreach workers out on the street to help 100 homeless people every day."

The organization has an annual budget of about $32 million, mostly from government sources and Medicaid; in its 18 locations around the city, CBGB is its only commercial tenant. (An arts reporter for The Times, Julie Salamon, is the committee's chairwoman.)

Relations between Mr. Kristal and Mr. Rosenblatt, never warm, froze over completely this spring, when the committee withdrew from settlement discussions. Then a series of celebrities and assorted fans and businesspeople, concerned for the club's future, tried to help restart negotiations.

Among the first were the singer David Byrne and the filmmaker Jonathan Demme, who hoped to arrange a meeting with both sides but found them unwilling.

"We said, 'Can we sit down and maybe both sides can compromise a bit,' " Mr. Byrne recalled. "Both sides seemed to be open to that idea, but then some of them decided that they weren't open anymore, that they would take their chances with the courts."

In June, Mr. Van Zandt said, he was recruited by a panicked Mr. Kristal to negotiate with Mr. Rosenblatt. Mr. Van Zandt, who organized Artists United Against Apartheid in the mid-1980's and was active in environmental and Native American campaigns, assembled a team.

After an initial meeting with Mr. Rosenblatt on June 20, Mr. Van Zandt and his team began to put together a proposal that would meet Mr. Rosenblatt's demands. A new lease would have a third-party guarantor and any outstanding building violations would be addressed. A foundation would be set up to contribute $100,000 a year to the Bowery Residents' Committee, raised in benefit concerts. A new lease, for 15 years, would include a modest rent increase.

The proposal was delivered to the organization last month, but Mr. Van Zandt said he had not received an answer and had had difficulty communicating with Mr. Rosenblatt and his staff. On Thursday evening, with a half-dozen associates gathered around him, Mr. Van Zandt sounded frustrated.

"I feel bad about this," he said. "I wish I could have done more."

But Mr. Rosenblatt said he had not yet made a decision on the proposal, and said he was considering it carefully.

Among his biggest concerns, he said, are a number of building violation notices the club received in October 2003, during inspections that followed a fire that killed 100 people at a Rhode Island club. The violations included lack of certification for flame retardant curtains and an aisle by the stage that was found to be too narrow.

Mr. Kristal and his representatives are adamant that the most serious faults were corrected immediately and that they are working to correct the remaining violations. Mr. Rosenblatt said too many were still outstanding.

The committee houses 175 people in the floors above the club; hundreds more pass through a second-floor "drop in center" - where they can rest and receive basic care - that is directly above the CBGB stage.

Mr. Rosenblatt, who said his first date with the woman who became his wife was to a concert at CBGB, said he believed an agreement could still be reached.

"We believe," he said, "that people can change."

SAVE CBGB! Make a donation:

http://cbgb.com/store/donate.html

Debby Harry at CBGB's with 3 live song links.

Deborah Harry and Other Punk Icons Kick Off CBGB Benefit Shows http://wcbs880.com/topstories/local_sto ... 40111.html

Update:

A judge has ruled that CBGB was improperly billed in a rent increase.
However a new lease must still be negotiated by the end of August.
Stay tuned!

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/s ... 7224c.html