An East Village jewelry store that lets customers pick their own pearls extracted from in-shop mussels and oysters and turn them into necklaces and bracelets is in hot water over a rent dispute that’s now spilling into court, records show.
The Pearl & The Beast allegedly owes $441,328 in unpaid rent tied to a storefront at 380 E. 10th St., according to a summons that was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court this week.
The building’s landlord, which is an entity named after the address that is apparently owned by Steve Croman, claims in the notice that the DIY jewelry store had inked a lease in June 2023 to occupy about 500 square feet on the ground floor of the 5-story property, between Avenues B and C, but is now in arrears. The starting rent for the storefront was $80.40 per square foot, according to information from CoStar.
It’s not clear if the Pearl & The Beast ever actually moved into the building or when it left if it did, but it’s not currently in the East Village space. Instead, it’s located a little less than 2 miles away in the basement of a 6-story SoHo building at 22 Howard St.
Ying Chen, who is named in the lawsuit and appears to be the owner of the store, did not return a request for comment by press time.
The store charges between $70 and $80 for a mussel plucked from one of its tanks, depending on the type. Shoppers then use the pearl extracted from the sea creature to create an earring, ring, charm or necklace.
The owner of the building, meanwhile, Croman, has gone to prison for mortgage crimes and paid millions in fines for his treatment of tenants, records show. Croman is the founder and president of the real estate firm Centennial Properties, which CoStar lists as the building’s owner. In 2018 Croman himself signed the documents on a $13.6 million mortgage tied to the building in question, records show.
Croman, who allegedly recently defaulted on more than $8 million in loans tied to properties in Hell’s Kitchen and East Harlem, did not return a request for comment by press time.
Gary Kavulich, an attorney at Westchester-based law firm Kavulich & Associates, which is representing the plaintiff, declined to comment. Ben Biberaj, senior director at Meridian Retail Leasing, which is the listing agency for the East Village property, also declined to comment.
