China Jade spent six years serving Upper East Siders before suddenly shutting down this week. Upper East Site has learned that while the Szechuan Chili House was still serving customers its fresh, delicious food, the business was not paying bills and has been evicted by a City Marshal.
According to court documents, China Jade, located at 1634 Second Avenue, between East 85th and 86th Street, stopped paying its rent in July 2020 and accumulated a bill to the tune of nearly half a million dollars.
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The restaurant claimed in filings that it completed a Declaration of Hardship during the Covid-19 Pandemic to “prove difficulty in maintaining the business,” however, by the time the lawsuit was filed the commercial eviction moratorium had already expired.
Court records show the restaurant also tried to pay five months worth of rent last winter, for November 2021 through March 2022, but by the time China Jade was sued by its landlord last spring, the restaurant was so far in arrears that the credit to their bill barely made a dent.
Despite the judge siding with China Jade’s landlord last October, ordering the restaurant to pay back $429,053.42 plus interest and authorizing the eviction of the business, the Second Avenue storefront wouldn’t be repossessed by a City Marshal until this week.
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A notice reading ‘Marshal’s Legal Possession’ taped to the restaurant’s windows is dated Monday, January 30th, the day the business was evicted from the space.
China Jade opened on the Upper East Side back in 2017, serving a large menu of standard Chinese fare in addition to smaller selection of special dishes featuring spicy Szechuan flavors — though its soup dumplings were most often what customers raved about.
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