Thanks to Danielle Church at WGRZ for speaking with me today about the lawsuits filed by Walden Galleria against several Tenants for failure to pay rent.
O'Brien says if a commercial tenant doesn't pay the amount owed, they default and are sent a notice by the landlord before getting evicted. However, New York State has issued a moratorium, or temporarily paused evictions, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That means Walden Galleria can't evict tenants not paying rent. "So you're seeing these separate actions because New York State doesn't allow you to do that right now. It's only for payment of back rent under the lease," O'Brien said.