Carl Glassman / Tribeca Trib

The empty two floors that were home to Delphi restaurant, at West Broadway and Reade Street, was to house David Bouley's new Japanese restaurant and cooking school.

One of Tribeca’s star chefs has his landlords steamed over allegedly hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent.

David Bouley signed a $23,000-a-month lease on 3,000 square feet of space at 109-111 West Broadway in October 2007, with grand plans to open Brush Stroke, a tri-level Japanese restaurant and cooking school. But the plan sputtered and now the building’s owners have filed a $1.3 million lawsuit against Bouley, alleging they haven’t seen a dime of rent from the chef since he signed the lease on the space more than two years ago.

Webway Associates, which owns the building, claims in court documents filed Sept. 22 that Bouley owes $764,639 in back rent dating back to October 16, 2007. His first nine months in the space were to be rent-free, so long as he did not default on the lease. 

In an interview with the Trib, Bouley said the suit was little more than a ploy on the part of the owners to pursuade him to restart his plans to install a restaurant in the space.

"It's a frivolous lawsuit presented as a bargaining tactic," Bouley said. "Basically, [the owners] are angry because we're not opening a restaurant there. I'm not interested in that."

Bouley said he lost interest in the building after extensive structural work, which needed to be done before the building could be outfitted with a restaurant, altered the layout of the space. Columns needed to be installed, floorboards and support beams needed to be replaced, and the electrical, plumbing and air condidtioning systems all had to be completely reworked.

“The space no longer worked for us,” Bouley said. “A lot of work was being done, and we didn’t really understand how we could run our business with all the changes that were made.”

Webway claims the unfinished renovation work, priced at more than $618,500, is Bouley's responsibility as a condition of his lease. The company has asked a Manhattan County Court judge to order Bouley to not only pay the full amount of the rent and renovation costs, but that he continue to pay his monthly rent until the debt is settled and the renovation is done. Bouley, in turn, argues that the work was only  necessary because of the owners neglected the building's needs.

"It's a wonderful old building, but it needs a lot of love and care," Bouley said. "They simply didn't do that."

Bouley received both fierce opposition and loyal support from Tribeca residents last year as he attempted to secure a liquor license for his would-be West Broadway mega-restaurant. When Secession, his Mediterranean eatery at 30 Hudson St., closed in May, Bouley opted to move the Brush Stroke venture to that space instead. It has yet to open.