BY BEN VERDE
The longstanding d’Mai
Urban Spa in Park Slope will
shutter in September after
financial troubles brought
on by COVID-19 have made
the owners of the Fifth Avenue
hotspot unable to pay
rent — and still, the corporate
landlord is suing them
for over $300,000 in rent
for the remainder of their
lease.
“It’s crippled my life,”
owner Daniella Stromberg
told Brooklyn Paper. “The
stress is pretty incredible.”
Stromberg had rented the
property near Lincoln Place
since 2004, but now, the
property owner Greenbrook
Partners has shown little
sympathy for the struggling
business.
Stromberg says Greenbrook’s
Principal, Greg
Fournier, who owns a number
of buildings on Fifth
Avenue, offered only two
months of 50 percent rent
after months of unpleasant
negotiations, and only if she
agreed to sign a new fiveyear
COURIER L 6 IFE, SEPT. 4–10, 2020
lease.
Two months wasn’t nearly
enough for Stromberg, who
says her revenue is down 80
percent while the coronavirus
keeps customers away
from high-contact businesses
like spas and massage
parlors, and severely
limits the number of customers
she can service per
day due to social distancing
guidelines.
Under normal circumstances,
the spa was able to
perform five massages every
70 minutes, and three facials
every 75 minutes — which
would bring in thousands of
dollars, according to Stromberg.
Since reopening, they
are only able to do three
massages in 105 minutes.
Now, her business faces
bankruptcy as she deals
with the lawsuit, and her
longtime staff of over 30 is
out of work.
“My business has employed
37 employees, most
of whom have been with me
since the beginning,” Stromberg
said. “And now my team
is out of work.”
The loss of work may also
mean immigration troubles
for some of her staff who are
in the United States on green
cards or student visas.
“It’s sort of a really
heartbreaking immigration
story,” she said. “I have
some green card holders who
couldn’t collect unemployment
during the shutdown, I
have some student visas who
were lost in the shuffle.”
Stromberg says she fears
the aggressive tactics of
landlords like Fournier will
drive out even more commercial
tenants from the neighborhood,
and she knows of
another Park Slope tenant of
his who will soon be forced
to close but has not yet informed
their staff.
“I think he’s wreaking
havoc on the neighborhood,”
she said.
Greenbrook Partners,
which describes itself as
specializing in “underperforming,
Spa workers rallied at the business on Aug. 28 to protest their landlord.
Photo by Caroline Ourso
poorly maintained,
mismanaged, and undercapitalized
assets” on its website,
did not return a request
for comment by deadline.
Stromberg hopes to continue
her business in some
form, once she gets past the
lawsuit and the dust settles
on the pandemic, but for
now she’s saying thank you
to Park Slope for 16 years of
business.
“It’s been the greatest joy
to work with my team to provide
a healing space for the
community,” she said.
The spa’s employees picketed
outside the spa on the
afternoon of Aug. 28 in protest
of the unfair treatment
from Greenbrook.
No more spa days
Slope spa closes after stalled talks with landlord
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