By Brooke Edwards
For residents living above the nightclub 46 Grand, life has been anything but.
Kevin Solomon, a resident at 46 Grand St. in Soho, said he and his family are kept awake every Friday and Saturday until 3 a.m. by loud music from the club. Last week, it happened on Wednesday night too. “And I live on the fourth floor,” he said. “So you can imagine what it is like for the people living on the second and third floors.”
Solomon has lived in the building on and off for the last decade and has seen several different venues come and go at the site. Before becoming 46 Grand, the site was a sake bar called Denial. But Solomon said the latest transformation is causing by far the most disturbance, particularly since the club removed the insulation from the ceiling when they remodeled.
On a visit to 46 Grand Friday night, the crowd was mellow and the music played at a typical loud club volume. A staff member said there was no manager available to discuss the issue that night. Managers at 46 Grand did not respond to repeated calls over the past week.
Solomon has made complaints about the noise to 311, and said other residents in the building have done the same. Residents have also made repeated complaints to the building’s landlord, whom Solomon says “is doing nothing.” When one resident confronted an employee at the club, Solomon said it ended in a fistfight.
After exhausting these resources and getting no response, Solomon attended this month’s First Precinct Community Council meeting and presented his case.
Robert Gould, president of the First Precinct Community Council, advised Solomon to join forces with the other residents and get a lawyer. Gould, who is a lawyer himself, said they have a valid case against their landlord in that they are not receiving “full use and enjoyment” of their apartments.
Dep. Inspector Anthony Bologna, the First Precinct’s commander, encouraged Solomon to report future disturbances directly to the precinct, as they can only take action while the noise is occurring. When Solomon expressed his frustration at the ongoing problem, Bologna said “it’s hard to get them [the State Liquor Authority] to take away a liquor license.”
Rick Lee, community affairs officer for the First Precinct, said that they have responded to complaints about excessive noise at the site before and promised to look into the issue further.
During a phone interview on Wednesday, Lee said, “We are monitoring it.” He said that officers went by 46 Grand last weekend, but did not observe any disturbances.
