Michael Jordan The Steak House has been a fixture in New York’s Grand Central Terminal since 1998.
Lately, though, business has reportedly fallen off. In a lawsuit, owner Matthew Glazier claims it’s because of homeless people outside the restaurant, according to a New York Post report.
From the New York Post:
The entryway to the Grand Central Terminal eatery is being overrun by bums, thanks to a long-term construction project on Vanderbilt Avenue that has created a festering enclave of vagrants, restaurant owner Matthew Glazier says in court papers. And business is so bad as a result that revenue has dropped 24 percent, according to the suit against his landlord, the MTA.
From the restaurant’s web site:
Named for the legendary basketball star Michael Jordan, our modern steakhouse is designed to reflect his sense of taste and style. Located on the balcony of one of New York’s most beautiful architectural landmarks, Grand Central Terminal, it overlooks the stunning Beaux-Arts main concourse with views of the famous clock, stories-high windows and constellation-embellished cerulean blue ceiling. The restaurant’s bar on the west balcony has become an iconic gathering place for social interaction relax with a drink or dine.
According to the report, the restaurant has become quite a gathering place for New York’s multitude of homeless people:
Vagrants not only hang out in the enclosed area outside the terminal created by barriers and a chain-link fence, they also pass by the steakhouse tables just inside the terminal area, stinking things up for well-heeled diners.
A waiter told the New York Post: “The customers ask, ‘What is that smell?’ and I tell them, ‘It’s that guy right there.’ I have to take out the bathroom spray and spray down the whole place.”
The report says the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and asks the court to “save this great New York restaurant—a beacon of Grand Central’s revival—from . . . the landlord’s unconscionable conduct.”
In August, Jordan won an $8.9 million lawsuit in Chicago against Dominick’s for unauthorized use of his name on a steak advertisement.
