Court Tells Empire Hotel To STFU

by Roxana Hernandez · July 13, 2011

    Neighbors are quietly celebrating over their court victory with one of Manhattan's rooftop bars, the Empire Hotel. The Real Deal reports that the decision by the Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court says that the co-op located on 62 W. 62nd street has the right to issue a temporary injunction limiting the amount of noise the bar can make.

    The co-op filed a lawsuit alleging that the bar was playing music at "extremely loud levels", sometimes till 3 a.m.

    Well, duh? It is a rooftop bar.

    Though, the bar has taken "remediation steps to minimize the noise" and "bent over backwards" to avoid disturbing it's neighbors, it seems that it isn't enough for the co-op.  While the Supreme Court denied the co-op's request to not use the outdoor area, the appellate court has sided with the co-op board and asked he bar to look into sound-proofing the space and have a retractable roof at a certain time each night.

    A rooftop bar with a retractable sound proof roof? Yeah, okay. Get Real.

    At the moment they are trying to reach a happy medium to co-exist so the co-op doesn't activate the injunction, however,  Sladkus said:

    "The hotel has resisted and pretty much said, 'we're not agreeing to anything', so we may have to take a very hard-line approach with the hotel."

    Come on neighbors, haven't you ever heard the saying: "If you can't beat them. join them"? Just grab a cocktail, enjoy the music and relax. It's New York, the city that never sleeps. What do you expect, Sleep?