Restaurant magnate Eli Zabar was handed a forceful defeat in his quest to block the construction of a homeless shelter next door to one of his Upper East Side properties, as a judge accused his lawyers of using “shameful” tactics to delay the beleaguered project.
The nearly two-year-long dispute centers on a safe haven shelter that the city is seeking to build on East 91st Street, between First and York avenues. The site is next door to a warehouselike building owned by Zabar, where he grows produce in a rooftop greenhouse to sell in his restaurants. He rents out the lower floors to a children’s gymnastics studio.
The city has enlisted a private developer, Bayrock Capital, to build the new 7-story safe haven. But Zabar, like countless next-door property owners before him, has held up work by refusing to let the developer install roof protections on his own building.