Owners of GG's House of Cookup forced to close for weeks at a time after ongoing building issues
GG’s House of Cookup Bar & Grill, a place that was once filled with food and customers, now sits empty and is forced to shut down for weeks at a time.
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Restaurant owners in East Flatbush say they’ve been forced to shut their doors - not because of a lack of customers, but because their landlord refuses to address issues in the building, such as flooding, mold and even rats in the building.
Gayeth Alleyne has to enter her own restaurant by standing on a crate, surrounded by contaminated water.
GG’s House of Cookup Bar & Grill, a place that was once filled with food and customers, now sits empty and is forced to shut down for weeks at a time.
“This has been going on since last year June, said Alleyne, who owns GG’s House of Cookup. “We have to keep cleaning up just to keep the business going. It's unfair. It keeps happening over and over.
Her frustration began only a year after she and her husband opened and invested thousands in renovations —all for a defective sewage line inside the building she rents from, to turn her business into a health hazard.
Flooding water leaves behind mold, a foul smell, and even rats scurrying around every night.
“Sometimes the water comes from the apartments up at the top,” said Alleyne, as she showed feces in the water.
“If it’s not feces,” said Dryck Alleyne, her husband, “then it’s tampons, it’s toilet tissue.”
Multiple calls to the landlord go without resolution. The restaurant owners say that since opening, there have been about three changes to building management.
Each of them has placed the blame on the restaurant.
“No help,” said Alleyne. “This is not right. After a year and a few months, they try to push everybody out, and the way to get us out is to do this. Stop chasing money and fix the problem.”
DOB tells News 12 the landlord, who is responsible for the sewage issue, was issued a violation in early April. A monetary penalty could come next.
“We can't even say that we’re going to lock this place,” said Dryck Alleyne, “go somewhere else, and rent, because our money's in it.”
For the past few weeks, customers of GG’s House of Cookup have been calling nonstop, asking when they’ll be open. The owners say their reputation is taking a hit, but they hope the community will understand why.
