Rivkin Team Secures Century 21’s Continued NYC Presence

In the ongoing battle over Century 21 Department Store’s lease in New York City, the Appellate Division, First Department handed Century 21 another significant legal victory.

The Rivkin team, led by Evan Krinick, David Grill and Evan Schieber, successfully defeated the landlord’s second attempt to reargue the Appellate Division’s unanimous affirmance of the Supreme Court’s holding.

In this dispute between the Century 21 retailer and its landlord, the landlord sued Century 21 claiming that it had no right to remain in its flagship store in lower Manhattan once its retail lease expired in January 2022. In response, Rivkin Radler’s lawyers persuaded the Supreme Court that a new lease came into effect when Century 21’s original retail lease expired, and that the new lease now governs the retailers’ occupancy for the next 100 years.

On appeal, the firm secured a victory when the Appellate Division upheld the decision, and again, when the Appellate Division denied the landlord’s first motion to reargue and reissued a new order strengthening the original affirmance. The landlord also moved to reargue the new order issued by the Appellate Division.

In this instance, echoing its prior rulings, the Appellate Division denied the landlord’s motion.

This decision marks the latest in a string of victories that the Firm has complied for Century 21 solidifying its tenancy rights and its continued presence in downtown NYC.

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