UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — No sign for you!
A giant banner of Jerry Seinfeld that appeared last year on an under-construction tower on the Upper East Side was in fact hung illegally, according to the city, which has fined the owner $25,000 for a slew of sign-related offenses.
The city only publicly disclosed the penalty this month, more than a year after the six-story banner appeared on The Benson: a luxury condominium building on Madison Avenue near East 80th Street.
It depicted a blown-up version of the comedian's August 2020 op-ed in the New York Times, headlined "So You Think New York is 'Dead'." Seinfeld's essay, written in response to a viral LinkedIn post proclaiming the demise of the city, was itself widely circulated last summer, held up as a retort to claims that the pandemic would spell doom for the Big Apple.
A few weeks later, developer Miki Naftali, CEO of the Naftali Group, was brainstorming with his daughter Danielle about holiday signage they could hang over The Benson in an effort to cover up some construction eyesores, they told The Real Deal.
Having enjoyed Seinfeld's op-ed, they secured permission from him and from the Times to use his photo and the headline. By Nov. 13, a crane had put the billboard in place.
But Naftali failed to get permission from one key stakeholder: the city, which never issued a permit for the sign, according to the Department of Buildings.
The day after the sign was hung, a neighbor contacted 311 to complain that the illuminated banner was "too bright and coming into my apartment window," city records show.
Responding to the complaint a couple of weeks later, city inspectors issued five violations, each carrying a $5,000 penalty. Besides lacking a permit, the sign was hung in a prohibited commercial zone where such advertising is banned, lacked the required decal for outdoor ads, was not registered with an outdoor advertising company, and had not been installed by a "licensed sign hanger," according to a DOB spokesperson.
In July, each of the five violations was upheld in a hearing at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. By August, Naftali submitted proof that the sign had been removed, and the $25,000 fine has since been paid, according to the city.
Reached for comment, a Naftali spokesperson told Patch, "We saw the importance of giving hope in a difficult time to our beloved city.
"While we've paid all our fines and respect the DOB's decision, we are still very pleased to have contributed in a small way by lending a voice to Jerry Seinfeld's Op Ed," the spokesperson said.
The 18-story Benson now stands complete, as leasing began last fall for its 17 apartments. The Seinfeld saga is only the latest headache for the building's developers: before construction even began, a neighbor sued to block it, saying the tower would violate the zoning code by depriving nearby buildings of light and air.