Gothamist: Upper East Side Building Hates Jared

Nishani Naidoo

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:09:43 -0500

I live in the building. This lawsuit was never discussed (and I sat on the board during this time). I only found out about it in the papers! The guy has only been open two weeks -- we really ought to have talked to him first to see if there was something we could do. And even if there wasn't, doubt you can close down the restaurant. If we could, then a lot of residential buildings would sue the restaurant tenants on the ground floor. Might be something we have to live with, until we move to Vermont.

friendly_neighbor

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 13:44:38 -0500

maybe the upper east side building should have petitioned a non restaurant (subway) to move in there instead of waiting till one opened. jerks Unit owners don't control the commercial space. Do yourself a favor and research before you post. I live in the building -- I've seen about 4 different stores use the space since I've been there. Deli, photo developer, frame store, beauty salon. Virtually all have failed. If a neighborhood deli failed (there's another one down the block), what's going to make Subway survive?

edEx

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 10:44:59 -0500

*Damn snooty uptowners, Always bitching about something .* No! the people who bitch the most are the williamsburg drag, east village and lower east side rich/slum kids who don't want gentrification just because they don't want it. Not because it for the great good of the neighborhood and its people. maybe the upper east side building should have petitioned a non restaurant (subway) to move in there instead of waiting till one opened. jerks.

Shmurf

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:05:07 -0500

*quips* Damn snooty uptowners, Always bitching about something . "OH look at those people with there cars burning all that gas polluting the air we have to breathe "! Personally I would trade the smell of Subway baked bread over the smell of fried bread any day !

steveM

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 23:02:18 -0500

There is a difference between the aroma of baked bread and the exhaust from an industrial strength oven. Improperly ventilated ovens can certainly cause a stink. And we want to reduce costs don't we?

anonymous

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 21:37:34 -0500

i subletted an apartment above a burger king for the summer... i didnt realize how bad the smell would be until i was already moved in, but it was absolutely disgusting. i lived on the 5th floor and the smell of burger king infiltrated the entire apartment. a 5 floor walkup is bad enough, but it was more or less unbearable when i had to fight nausea/hold my breath due to the smell of burger king. just writing this is bringing back the bad memories.

Sarah

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:12:17 -0500

Honestly, I haven't been able to stomach the smell of baking Subway bread for years (probably OD'ed on the stuff in college). When I lived on 13th between 3rd and 2nd, the Dunkin Donuts across the big empty lot on 14th Street used to bake their donuts every night at 7PM sharp, so that whenever I had any friends over they'd mysteriously show up craving donuts and wouldn't have a clue why. Now THAT smell I didn't entirely mind - and yes, it did instigate a few late-night cravings.

ABZ

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 15:25:47 -0500

Subway is competing with Starbucks and Duane Reade for king of NYC chains. And YES they do stink because it's such a mechanical smell! Fast food is processed food and will never smell natural.

Brian

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 15:19:48 -0500

Subway doesn't bake real bread-it's so full of chemicals and preservatives. It's a nasty odor that takes all the nasty smells associated with bread (yeasty old shoes) and removes anything nice and pleasant. I'd sue too though I'm more of the believe of shutting down most fast food places in general.

Benjamin Kabak

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 15:12:33 -0500

Now tell me I'm whining and that I should move if I don't like it. :-P Well, I wouldn't go that far but as a tenant you do have some rights and legal recourses that are well worth exploring.

and real estate

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:46:16 -0500

Can I sue Goldman Sachs for unleashing nauseatingly arrogant investment bankers on the entire city thus rendering the restaurant and nightclub scenes unbearable?

NB

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:38:59 -0500

Do any of you live next to a restaurant that pumps its exhaust into your apartment? What do you do to cope with the smell? Does it cause you to eat more? We live above one of those fancy pizza places where people line up to pay $20+ for a tiny circle of cardboard and ketchup and ox mozzarella, or whatever. The exhaust from their oh-so-special oven permeates our apartment and the inner stairwell when the place is open. It doesn't make us hungry because it smells like burning metal. It makes our eyes water and our throats itch. A housing inspector came and said he couldn't do anything because the smell tends to happen in the evenings and their department only works during the day. We contacted the landlord who promised to look into it, but the problem persists. Considering that the landlord also leaves a giant hole in the ground floor of the stairwell where we've observed rats crawling in and out, and manages to leave the front door lock broken for weeks at a time, and has never installed child safety bars for our windows, and has never fixed our broken apartment door lock, I have little hope that he'll actually address the issue of the restaurant fumes. I imagine the restaurant tenant pays his hefty rent, and that's all the landlord cares about, regardless of the fact that our rent payment alone probably pays whatever mortgage he might have on the place. Now tell me I'm whining and that I should move if I don't like it. :-P

ms yuk

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:35:08 -0500

Every Chipoltle has a 5x5 cloud in front that smells like old fish, steamy bus tubs, and cilantro/dish soap.

Dave Burdick

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:27:02 -0500

"But it's not a sandwich, I cannot make it right away." YES. I'm going to start categorizing all tasks by whether or not they are sandwiches/can be made right away: 1. I'm going to make a list of priorities (sandwich). 2. I need to organize my life (not a sandwich). 3. Then I'll make a sandwich (sandwich) and eat it (sandwich).

Ralph Hurly

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:20:55 -0500

I pass by a Subway every morning. It is right next to a shoe repair place, and the mixed aroma of baking Subway bread and shoe polish is really nauseating. I am curious to see what their ingredient "mix" is. It doesn't have the same consistency and taste (and smell) of regular bread.

TomP

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:05:01 -0500

There are two atrocious aromas within a few blocks of my office: the Bath & Bodyworks on 6th between 50th and 51st burns this filthy stenchpot of stinky oil that smells like a teenage French hooker's bubblegum, and the Ted's Steakhouse on 51st west of 6th vents their kitchen onto the sidewalk. If you make the mistake of walking on that side of the street, your coat will smell like rendered buffalo fat for the rest of the day.

Peter

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:56:55 -0500

I don't think it's a residential building, but whenever I'm walking on West Houston, past the Film Forum to get to the subway station, the smell of grease and garlic from S.O.B.'s routinely kills me. Odd ... I work in the near vicinity and haven't noticed any smells from S.O.B.'s. What you might be smelling are a couple of fast food joints on Varick just north of West Houston.

janelle

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:45:11 -0500

i agree with #5 that it doesn't smell bread-like in a pleasant way - it's definitely a distinct subway restaurant smell. i have been in an apartment building in the village that is upstairs from a subway, and the stairwell smelled like i was standing in the restaurant.

nikki

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:06:56 -0500

we used to live near a dunkin' donuts. at first it wasn't bad but after a few days, the grease smell was overwhelming. i am cured of donuts now.

Jen Chung

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:41:28 -0500

I don't think it's a residential building, but whenever I'm walking on West Houston, past the Film Forum to get to the subway station, the smell of grease and garlic from S.O.B.'s routinely kills me.

bignose

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:39:11 -0500

Subway smell is very distinctive -- and oddly, doesn't smell like baking bread at all. More like a pickle-y, chemically, lettuce and processed meats smell. Have always been baffled by how that draws people in there.

hs

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:36:53 -0500

The bread smell can be nice in small doses, but I'm sure there are other odors involved, and who's to say this wouldn't be nauseating all the time? Also, I was recently overseas and passed by a Subway...it's the SAME distinct smell no matter where you go.

BTD

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:27:43 -0500

My building has smelled like donuts since the Dunkin Donuts opened down the block, it's actually a pleasing aroma, but makes fighting the urge to have a donut in the morning a bit harder.

Could Be Worse

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:16:11 -0500

Smelling Subway's bread is a lot better than smelling McDonald's grease by far.

Benjamin Kabak

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:04:51 -0500

The fact that building residents hate the smell of Subway's baking bread is amusing to us as that's the one thing about the sandwich chain that Gothamist actually enjoys. For real? The Subway at the entrace to the, um, subway on Broadway between 93rd and 94th St. reeks. I don't blame this building for being pissed at that odor. It's nasty.