A Manhattan event venue is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging it illegally seized a public plaza beneath the Queensboro Bridge and charged clients up to $300,000 per event while using security guards and NYPD officers to remove ordinary New Yorkers.
Sean Basinski, a Brooklyn mentalist and one of several plaintiffs, said Guastavino’s security first forced him off the property when he tried to use it as a workout space during the COVID-19 lockdowns. In 2023, workers escorted him away again, claiming the public plaza was “part of the event space” and alluding to how the NYPD “understands, in the Community Affairs division, what the arrangement is,” according to court documents.
On other occasions, Basinski demanded to see Guastavino’s lease proving the space was private. Workers told him the signs stating it was private was “sufficient legal basis,” the suit says.
The confrontation escalated dramatically in December 2025. Venue boss Louis Rose declared the plaza was “my property” before grabbing Basinski’s belongings and hurling them into East 59th Street, court papers allege. A venue worker then slapped a phone out of Basinski’s hand before 19th Precinct officers arrived, cuffed him, and charged him with trespassing. The charges were later tossed.
When Basinski returned in April, venue workers threatened him repeatedly. “This time, you’re going to get locked up — you’re going to go to the hospital, then you’re going to go to jail,” a worker said, according to video and the suit.
Officers were called on him later that month merely for reading a book in the spot. They assured him it was private property despite Basinski demanding proof. An officer from the 19th Precinct told him “I don’t need paperwork,” before seven officers escorted him away, the suit alleges.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court last week, also names a Manhattan grad and a veterinary technician as plaintiffs. It demands a judge formally declare the plaza public land and force the venue to surrender profits from its alleged decade-long occupation.
The disputed space sits on city-owned land first purchased in 1900 for construction of the iconic bridge. The plaza was meant to be “a sitting area accessible to the public,” according to the filing. Instead, the venue’s operators blocked taxpayers with fake signs and security guards while hawking it for posh weddings and galas, the suit claims.
“This case is about the brazen and illegal seizure of public space by a high-end private event company and a commercial real estate developer who, on a daily or near-daily basis, evict the general public from a public plaza in Midtown Manhattan,” the filing alleges.
“Plaintiffs bring this case to return this small garden to public use and to right the wrongs that Defendants have caused by their illegal actions.”
The lawsuit further alleges the venue’s operators have been aided by a “reputed shady set-up” with the local police precinct.
Guastavino’s told amNY that it “acknowledges that this is a public plaza” and that it is working with the city to “come up with a path forward.” The venue did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.
A Police Department rep said Sunday, “The NYPD will decline comment on pending litigation.”
