An Italian restaurant that leases space in a luxury apartment building owned by President Trump’s son-in-law has refused to fork over rent — the owners claiming they’re fed up with shoddy conditions and construction noise.
The food fight erupted in February, when La Nonna, the eatery at 184 Kent Ave. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, stopped paying its monthly tab to the landlord, a holding company owned by Jared Kushner.
Three months later, the landlord filed a nonpayment petition in Brooklyn housing court against La Nonna, saying the restaurant owed $72,783 in back rent and that the owners were facing eviction.
Then, earlier this month, the restaurant that’s tucked into in a former Wild Turkey distillery known as the Austin Nichols House turned up the heat with claims that the building’s unappetizing appearance is ruining business.
La Nonna owners argue in the July 10 counterfiling that scaffolding around the building prevents the eatery from offering outdoor seating, cutting off potential revenue. The filing asks a judge to dismiss the housing court proceeding.
The scaffolding also obscured La Nonna’s sign. The restaurant owners said they made repeated complaints about the scaffolding, but the landlord didn’t do anything to fix the problem.
Instead, La Nonna’s owners, Cono and Anna Morena, paid for a new sign themselves, according to the filing.
The restaurant’s owners said the walls and ceiling also show water damage dating to when a sprinkler system was activated to douse a fire that broke out in the floor above. The damage was never fixed and the restaurant hasn’t been compensated, according to the filing.
Building construction has also apparently made for deafening dining.
“The construction has caused excessive and unreasonable noise within the premises,” the filing states.
The owners of La Nonna — which opened at the location in 2014 — did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesman for Kushner’s real estate firm, Kushner Companies, declined to comment on La Nonna’s accusations due to pending litigation.
In 2015 Kushner Companies purchased the block-long Williamsburg building for $275 million in partnership with two other developers. Kushner and his partners own the building through the holding company 184 Kent Owner LLC.
Kushner stepped down from running the firm in January when he joined the Trump administration as a senior White House adviser.
The building had been a 338-unit rental building, but the Kushner team turned the majority of the apartments into high-end condominiums.
Construction involved in the conversion also has angered some of the building’s renters, who have complained about the scaffolding and pest infestations.
Earlier this year, one resident even captured video footage of a mouse scurrying across a crib.
The city Health Department checked the property on Jan. 30 and found evidence of mice in the building. At the time, it ordered the landlord to fix the problem.
Kushner Companies said that an extermination service is provided weekly and on the same day, if requested. It also said there have been no fires since last summer.
City Buildings Department records also show that the property has three outstanding elevator violations.