The landlord at 12 E. 32 St. is asking a court to evict the tenant, byteLair Inc., which is renting an office on the sixth floor. The alleged parties got so wild that people were having sex in the lobby, according to the lawsuit. Vanessa Vance, the byteLair owner, called the allegations ‘ridiculous’ and said she’s going to file a discrimination suit. She said she’s a software engineer and transgendered.
A drab office in a Midtown Manhattan building has become the site of wild sex parties for transgender, transsexual and cross-dressing celebrants who have gotten so carried away they have been having sex in the lobby, court papers say.
In papers filed Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court, Hole in One Associates L.P. says troublesome tenant byteLair Inc. rented space on the sixth floor of 12 E. 32 St. in November for a traditional office with desks, computers and phones.
Instead, the suit says, byteLair hung up sheets and hauled in room dividers to create smaller spaces and then started advertising the space on tlust.com and other sites as a place to party and engage in “sexual activity by and between ‘transsexual’ and/or ‘transgender’ individuals and/or groups.” The sites boast of “an on premise private social club for Tgurls (ts,tv,cd)” — transsexuals, transvestites and cross dressers — “and those who love us.”
“All parties are held in a private, discrete midtown loft with private and group play areas, complimentary condoms/lube, coat check, lockers, complimentary soft drinks and snacks and of course you can bring your own bottle (liquor),” the tlust site says.
The landlord says byteLair has crossed the line. The tenant “is using the premises as an illegal sex club in violation of the lease as well as a varity of city, state, local codes, statutes, (and) ordinances,” the suit says.
Vanessa Vance, 43, who identified herself as byteLair’s owner, called the allegations “ridiculous” and “laughable.”
“I’m a software engineer, and I’m transgendered. I have a lot of clients and friends who are transgendered,” Vance said, adding that she also runs a transgender support group out of her office. “I’m shocked that someone could be so misinformed,” she said. “I’m going to be filing a discrimination suit. They’re hurting me and my business.”
The landlord says it started getting complaints from other tenants in the eight-story office building in December. Initially, they were upset about “excessive noise” — but then tenants started reporting there were “individuals engaging in sexual activity in the lobby/common areas” and swarms of groups wandering around the building at all hours looking for “the party,” the suit says
On Jan. 25, an argument on the sixth floor of the building resulted in multiple individuals shouting “fight, fight, fight,” the suit says. The landlord says that within the byteLair suite, “individuals located in the separate smaller areas were observed and heard to be engaging in sexual activity.” Hole in One, which is part of the Stellar Management firm, a large landlord in the city, is asking a judge to shut the club down and evict byteLair.
Vance said she’s going to fight back. “I plan to stay. They’re not going to push me out,” she said.
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