MJP –
It’s a precious table, designed by the late Modernist architect Charles Gwathmey, valued at $115,000. If it’s damaged, it allegedly requires $86,000 worth of repairs.
It sits in an enormous Chelsea loft owned by Gwathmey’s stepson, Eric Steel, who rents out the unit for around $30,000 a month.
And now, Steel is allegedly refusing to return the security deposit to his most recent subletters — Australian power couple Sam and Lara Worthington, who sued him earlier this month in Manhattan Supreme Court.
In response, Steel claims that the Worthingtons wrecked the trophy table and trashed the loft. He is demanding payment of $300,000.
The dispute is oddly similar to one from a decade ago, when Steel sued a previous high-profile subtenant, media mogul Arianna Huffington, whom he accused of wrecking the very same table and trashing the place.
“Steel’s attempt to use his playbook of fabricating damage and targeting his tenants for remuneration will not be tolerated by the Worthingtons, who left the apartment in near-pristine condition,” said Anne W. Salisbury of Guzov LLC, the couple’s lawyer. “Steel’s demands and counterclaims are demonstrably false and baseless under New York law, as the Worthingtons will prove in court.”
The Worthingtons — Sam is known for his acting in “Avatar” while Lara, nee Lara Bingle, is a model with nearly 2 million Instagram followers — recently vacated the unit after a year or so of subletting.
The Worthingtons, who have three young sons, admit to normal wear and tear, and to some damages beyond their control — such as water intrusion from the building envelope, the lawsuit says. They left behind a broken cupboard, plus some nicks and scrapes on the walls.
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“Plaintiffs could not possibly have caused more than a couple thousand dollars of damage,” the Worthingtons’ lawyer says.
The Worthingtons offered to pay more than the cost of repairs, Salisbury told The Post.
As for that $86,000 to repair the Gwathmey table, the suit calls the sum “astronomical . . . to the point of absurdity.”
The unit came partly furnished, according to the sublease included in the lawsuit. But “the only mention of the table was when Plaintiffs wanted to remove all furniture before they took possession, and were told the table would not fit in the service elevator, so could only be taken out through the window. No word about the special finish, the need to apply a special coating, or the need to bring the whole table to its manufacturer just to do the refinishing there,” the suit says.
An estimate from Pollaro Custom Furniture in New Jersey gives an amount of $36,000 to strip the finish, repair dents, sand, bleach, stain and spray the table — costing $200 per hour for 180 hours.
Round-trip transportation between the Chelsea loft and the furniture workshop is an estimated $50,000, according to papers reviewed by The Post. That includes constructing a rigging crate, disassembling the table, packing it, hoisting it with a crane and delivering it. It doesn’t include removing the window or debris disposal, according to correspondence from the moving company.
Steel’s list of demands includes $6,500 for “supervision, service and coordination;” $21,450 for redoing the floors; and $15,200 for refurbishing metal sinks, shelves and windowsills — all part of an estimate of $87,000 worth of construction work. His list also includes $120,000 for four months of lost rent, according to court filings.
Steel has rented out the co-op unit — worth around $10 million — to seven tenants between 2004 and 2024, according to court filings.
“Because of the Apartment’s unique and exquisite design, Mr. Steel has often leased the Apartment to prominent figures in the fashion, art and media world,” says the counterclaim filed by Steel’s lawyer, Jacob S. Reichman of Kudman Trachten Aloe Posner LLP. Reichman declined to comment to The Post.
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A dozen years ago, Steel sublet the apartment — all 4,400 square feet — to Huffington. Upon her departure, Steel sued her for $275,000, for wrecking the very same table as well as trashing the place.
“The Gwathmey designed, custom made dining room table was damaged and scratched and the finish compromised. It had to be crated, hoisted out of the Apartment and repaired by the original manufacturer,” according to that suit, which also called the table “irreplaceable.”
At the time, Huffington said in a statement, “every single claim in this suit is false except the square footage and the address. Eric Steel, who happily renewed the lease twice and visited the apartment multiple times, is holding on to $93,000 in deposits, which he has refused to return.”
That suit was settled quickly.
“This is not the first time the landlord has done this,” the lawsuit from the Worthingtons reads. “Steel sued a famous public figure for nearly identical claims of damage. After a torrent of negative press, this individual settled the case . . . this abuse of the legal system and landlord misconduct cannot be countenanced.”
The Huffington suit is irrelevant, according to papers filed by Reichman. “By mentioning events which took place ten years ago, the Worthingtons are only attempting to distract from the actual conduct at issue here,” the papers say.
The sublease says the tenants must take “good care” of all furnishings, art work and inclusions.
The Worthingtons refuse to pay “even a cent to repair their damage to the Apartment,” and “made absolutely no effort to take care of the Apartment or fulfill their obligations as tenants,” the paperwork says. It accuses them of using the unit as “their own personal storage shed,” and “disrespecting and damaging the apartment.” It says the table had “large divots in it, making it unusable.”
What’s more, “the Worthington did not even bother to shut off the lights or close the windows before they left,” the papers allege.
If the table is so delicate and valuable, Steel should have emphasized that point to any subtenants, the Worthingtons’ lawyer wrote in court papers.
“Indeed, if he knew that a tenant would be shocked by his claims regarding the supposedly rare and sensitive $86,000 refinishing need, he should have added it to the lease, so the tenants could choose to cover [the table] and move it away.”
