Tenant and landlord spat reaches Mount Kisco Village Board

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. - A tussle over the illumination of a storefront sign was the least of several grievances one Mount Kisco entrepreneur hoped going public would bring to light.

Joseph Pali, owner of VIP Wine & Liquor (24 East Main St.), appeared before the Village Board on Monday, March 17, to accuse his landlord, Friedland Properties, of engaging in “predatory” behavior.

But before he did that, Pali thanked Mayor J. Michael Cindrich and Village Manager Ed Brancati for their assistance when he moved his business from Tuckahoe to Mount Kisco.

He did not specify exactly how they helped, but said he was grateful that they “reinforced the notion that local government should strive to assist small businesses as they battle against the tide of ever coalescing corporations and towering bureaucracy.”

Friedland, a New York City-based realty company, is estimated to be worth $3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. It owns 10 buildings in Mount Kisco, including the one on South Moger Avenue where Barnes & Noble just opened a new store.

Pali told the board that he was reluctant to come back to the municipal well so soon, but his situation had left him “with little choice.”

He said he wasn’t advocating so much for himself but for other Friedland tenants. None of those appeared at the March 17 meeting. Pali explained to Halston Media later that they may be apprehensive about speaking up.

“I present this to this board not as an appeal for me as I have nothing to gain at this point as in four years’ time, I do not doubt that my lease with be punitively not renewed as a punishment for bearing these issues to the light of day,” he said.

Pali blamed “the growing number of empty storefronts and the amount of businesses that have closed down or left,” on what he called “strong arm” tactics.

He did not name those businesses or who their landlords were.

However, Pali did have a lot to say about his own alleged issues with Friedland.

He asserted that -- despite having paid his “dues early and in full and without quarrel” -- he was threatened with eviction by Friedland’s attorney before he’d even received the keys to the property.

Pali said that after Friedland Properties’ director of leasing “intervened,” he was able to gain access to his store last August.

At the showing, the store had been in good shape, but it was in “shambles,” once Pali took possession, he claimed.

Among the “litany” of problems Pali said he encountered were leaky roofs in the storage room and bathroom areas, damage to the floors and walls, fire hazard issues such as wiring, and flooding in the basement.

Pali said he himself labored into the wee hours to correct the alleged problems.

“After extensive internal repairs and having been subjected to what I can only call a bait and switch, I was ready for opening,” he told the board.

Pali said that not only had he brought these issues to Friedland’s attention, he expressed the “growing dissatisfaction” of nearly a dozen other businessowners concerned with the company’s “increasing bellicose” nature.

(Again, he did not name those businessowners at the meeting.)

“My concerns were dismissed with a slew of legalese and pedantic jargon reminding me of the stipulations of my contract and not at all addressing the ethics of the circumstance,” Pali told the board.

Segueing to the sign issue, Pali said he had worked with the local assistant building inspector to review an “approved sign package” as agreed upon by Friedland and the village.

(That term refers to a set of specific designs and standards that have been officially reviewed and approved by a local authority for a particular property or area.)

Pali was under the impression that he was being required to illuminate his sign with gooseneck fixtures, which would have cost “in excess of $10,000.”

Pali told Halston Media that he found that unnecessary since he operates “almost entirely during the daylight hours.”

(VIP Wine & Liquor is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day except Sundays, when it’s open from 12 noon to 5 p.m.)

According to Pali, Friedland informed him that if he didn’t install the desired lighting, he would be subjected to a “holdover hearing.”

(That’s a court proceeding where a landlord seeks to evict a tenant or occupant for reasons other than nonpayment of rent, such as lease violations or staying beyond the lease term.)

“Friedland Properties threatened a small business owner with the effectual removal, which would result in the end of his livelihood and the dissolution of yet another small business in this town over the demand to add lights to a sign that operates when the sun is out,” Pali said in a prepared statement.

Friedland Weighs In

Friedland’s director of leasing, Sylvie Shames, called Pali’s finger pointing over empty storefronts “unfair.”

She also adamantly disputed his claim that Friedland had been trying to toss him out.

Shames acknowledged that the company’s in-house counsel had sent an email to Pali, reminding him that Friedland was “within its rights to approve a signage package and require tenants to do certain things” and that if he didn’t comply, he might be faced with a “holdover event.”

Calling it a “reasonable request,” Shames asserted that that wasn’t a threat.

“He was stating what was on the lease, that’s all,” she said.

On Friday, March 28, 2025, the town’s assistant building inspector, William Segmuller, wrote to Friedland to inform it that Pali had inquired about the “comprehensive sign package” -- specifically, the sign lighting requirement -- for the building, which contains a number of tenants, including some on South Moger Avenue.

Approved in 2010 by the Architectural Review Board, the particulars – such as the sign’s size and the way letters are mounted -- were sent to Friedland’s architects.

It included a reference to gooseneck lighting for 24 East Main St., which was at that time occupied by another tenant.

Segmuller clarified that Friedland’s tenants don’t have to illuminate their signs. However, IF they choose to do so, gooseneck fixtures – which would match its neighbors’ -- are required.

(In general, the idea appears to be to keep things downtown as uniform and tasteful as possible.)

Friedland owns 10 buildings in Mount Kisco, including the one that houses the new Barnes & Noble bookstore on South Moger Avenue.

Several tenants in the East Main Street/South Moger Avenue building owned by Friedland have gooseneck lights over their exterior signs, including a restaurant and an exercise studio to VIP’s left.

Now that it’s confirmed that lighting is not mandatory, Friedland considers Pali’s sign issue to be “done.”

Shames said merely Friedland needed confirmation of the sign package’s language.

“We just want to follow what the town wants,” she said.

As a tenant, VIP is currently in “good standing,” rent-wise, Shames said, responding to Pali’s March 17 remarks about facing eviction before he’d even gotten his keys.

Pali signed a lease on July 12, 2023. He posted $9,000 in a security deposit and $3,000 for the first month’s rent, she said. These wouldn’t be cashed in until the lease went “live.”

Part of the deal was that Pali got up to three months “free” in order to give him time to secure his license from the State Liquor Authority. At the end of that period, if he still hadn’t prevailed, he could opt to terminate or continue for another three months, again for “free,” Shames said.

If still in limbo at the six-month mark, he could have backed out of the lease or begin to pay half, or $1,500 a month.

If Friedland decided to terminate the lease, it would have had to give back the security deposit.

Shames said that after Friedland hadn’t received its $4,500 in rent for January, February, and March in 2024, its attorney sent a form letter asking Pali to advise it about the status of the payment and indicating that if the company didn’t get it, it would have to start eviction proceedings.

According to Shames, it all boiled down to communication and a “misunderstanding” about whether the first month’s rent of $3,000 could be applied to the new period.

“We hadn’t cashed the check and they hadn’t deposited the difference either,” she explained.

All is well now, Shames said.

Pali got his license, paid the difference, and took possession of 24 East Main St. on Aug. 2, 2024.

“It’s nothing an email couldn’t have solved and an email DID solve it,” she said adding that Friedland wants Pali, like all of its tenants “to succeed.”

According to Shames, Friedland had not many “any representations” about the condition of the space itself.

With the exception of structural problems – such as a leaky roof – places are rented as it.

“It’s on the tenant to sort out (things) themselves; that’s standard,” Shames said.

However, once Friedland was notified about the leak in the bathroom ceiling, it fixed it. When the roof sprung another one, it repaired that one too, she said.

According to Shames, basements in that building are “licensed to use but aren’t rentable spaces” because they tend to “flood” -- for what reason, she didn’t know.

Tenants are alerted to that situation in their leases. In VIPs case, the property manager (who Pali said has been very helpful) put up some sandbags.

Shames denied that Friedland had damaged the walls or that it had left the place in “shambles,” as Pali had claimed.

The property manager assured her that the only thing he did after the previous tenant moved out was to remove garbage and/or personal effects that had been left behind.

In this case, it was a desk and a television set, she said.

When all is said and done, a healthy downtown benefits everyone.

“None of us are interested in putting our tenants out of business or having a combative relationship,” Shames said.

Public Intoxication Concerns

Pali also addressed the issue of “public intoxication” and its impact on local liquor store owners.

He told the board that was forced to seek a trespass order against an apparently drunken patron that he’d had to remove from his store three times in one day.

According to Pali, within a week of the incident that person was arrested for assault and for breaking a window.

“I think he’s trespassed at just about every business in town,” Pali added.

Pali thought the public intoxication wasn’t “endemic,” but a matter of “multiple bad actors” who are arrested and then immediately released.

Most of the businesses enforce things “as best they can,” Pali allowed, adding that it’s really up to the local justice court to deal with repeat offenders.

“There’s only so much the police can do,” he added.

Mayor J. Michael Cindrich agreed that law enforcement has to follow certain protocols and procedures.

Folks being arrested and then being released on their own recognizance over and over is not the village's "doing" and something it “has little control over,” he pointed out.

As for the ongoing landlord-tenant dispute, Cindrich said:

“It’s something we can discuss in the future if we need to write any letters, but very disappointing to hear that from a relatively new merchant who, by the way, both the village manager and myself assisted through the process when he wanted to open a business in Mount Kisco.”