NYC laundromat with ‘affluent clientele' drags pizza joint next door to court over odor
A Chelsea laundromat claims its stinky neighbor is costing it plenty of dough.
Laundry Project 23 on West 23rd Street handles 'a large volume of high-end clothing items belonging to affluent clientele' and rakes in $100,000 a month, but says the recent opening of Pizza Studio has upended its business.
Since the pizza shop 'began testing and operating their pizza oven, the odors and fumes have been entering our laundromat premises, contaminating the air and clinging to customers' clothing,' owner Dong Hong Choi said in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
'Clothes hanging on the rack and bags of cleaned clothes quickly absorb odors when exposed to the smell,' the company claimed.
The business said it suffered 'contamination of customer property, disruption of its business operations, loss of customer trust, reputational harm, and exposure to significant financial liability due to potential customer claims.'
The situation has gotten so crusty the laundromat is demanding their next door neighbor shut down.
They want a judge to bar Pizza Studio 'from operating its pizza oven and conducting any cookingoperations that emit odors into Plaintiff's premises,' Laundry Project 23 said in court papers.
Choi previously demanded a sitdown with Pizza Studio and the landlord as soon as he 'was informed that a duct for their pizza oven would pass through the ceiling area shared with our laundromat,' he said in court papers.
The Pizza Studio allegedly agreed to take responsibility for any issues — then allegedly failed to ensure the ductwork it created for its shop was fully sealed, allowing odors to 'infiltrate' the laundromat.
And there's been a domino effect — the pizza place also leaves its front door open when cooking, making odors even worse, Laundry Project 23 claimed.
The odiferous situation is 'unreasonable under the circumstances, especially considering that simple, reasonable steps – such as properly sealing ductwork, installing odor mitigation systems, and closing the doors during pizza oven operation – could have prevented the harm substantially,' the laundromat insisted in legal papers.
Pizza Studio did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
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