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Sting’s son-in-law has been slapped with a lawsuit and restraining order over his ‘vermin-infested’ and ‘illegal’ Los Angeles AirBnB hippy commune, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Chris Kantrowitz, husband of pop legend Sting’s daughter Mickey Sumner, has been accused of using a commercial building in Hollywood for residential tenants, and leaving the AirBnB renters in squalor.
The commune, BE Hive, was billed as a ‘hub for spiritual but also modern and nomadic entrepreneurs’, hosting workshops on micro-dosing drugs with a European biochemist turned shaman, and ‘sacred sexuality’ sessions, teaching couples to use sex to access ‘the mysterious, loving, magical depths of the universe.’
But a lawsuit filed against Kantrowitz, 46, in Los Angeles Superior Court by his tenants this month claims that he broke zoning laws turning the commercial building into a boarding house with more than 12 rooms, improperly used other AirBnB renters as housekeepers, and failed to fix ‘vermin infestations’, ‘a leaking hole in the ceiling’ and ‘clogged plumbing.’
The court papers claim that after being caught using the building – once a rock and roll memorabilia museum – as a residential space, Kantrowitz tried to turf out his tenants and rent out the building to fitness company Sweatheory as a yoga studio.
Chris Kantrowitz is the husband of pop legend Sting’s daughter Mickey Sumner. He’s been accused of using a commercial building in Hollywood for tenants and leaving it infested with vermin, DailyMail.com can reveal. The couple are pictured together
In a lawsuit filed against Kantrowitz, his tenants claim that he broke zoning laws turning the commercial building into a boarding house with more than 12 rooms
Pictures show broken windows, trash strewn on the floor, water damage streaking the walls and potentially dangerous electrical wires
The court papers claim that after being caught using the building – once a rock and roll memorabilia museum – as a residential space, Kantrowitz tried to turf out his tenants and rent out the building to fitness company Sweatheory as a yoga studio
‘Kantrowitz and a crew of approximately 20 workers without notice or consent… began substantial demolition and renovation work in order to convert the rental unit to a Sweatheory business location,’ the lawsuit, filed by tenants Gabriel Capra and Kristin Wright, said.
Photographs included in court filings show broken windows, trash strewn on the floor, water damage streaking the walls and potentially dangerous tangles of electrical cables in the building.
Chris Kantrowitz is the husband of pop legend Sting’s daughter Mickey Sumner. Sting and Mickey pictured together in 2014
The tenants’ court filings also complain of ‘an accumulation of filth’ with ‘mold in the bathroom’, ‘rats on the premises’ and ‘droppings’.
Capra and Wright’s attorney, Makoa Kawabata, said he hoped Kantrowitz would ‘take responsibility’ as a result of the lawsuit.
‘This is precisely the sort of behavior the Rent Stabilization Ordinance and other Los Angeles renter protection laws were designed to prohibit,’ said Kawabata, who along with renters’ rights attorney Elliot Rosenberger, represents wronged tenants in Los Angeles.
‘We hope this suit will make the defendant take responsibility for his decision to profit from illegally renting out a property that he let fall into conditions the Los Angeles Department of Building & Safety determined to be substandard and hazardous.’
Kantrowitz, BE Hive’s primary investor, ran his music industry startup Gobbler from the building and committed the company to a 10-year lease there, LA Weekly reported in 2017.
‘It’s kind of this hub for spiritual but also modern and nomadic entrepreneurs, basically,’ BE Hive co-founder Tamara Edwards told the magazine.
‘Chris and I met in 2003 when I was 18, most likely on the dance floor. In 2011 he introduced me to Burningman,’ she said in an interview on site ActiveCultureFamily.com.
‘It was there, covered in the magical playa dust, that our friendship deepened and our hearts were forever connected. I was transformed by the experience. I was already a meditator but it was that trip that gave me my first spiritual awakening. I have been extremely grateful for Chris for facilitating that experience.’
The commune, BE Hive, was billed as a ‘hub for spiritual but also modern and nomadic entrepreneurs,’ hosting workshops on micro-dosing drugs. But as these photos show it is a rundown building with water damage and broken windows
The tenants’ court filings also complain of ‘an accumulation of filth’ with ‘mold in the bathroom’, ‘rats on the premises’ and ‘droppings’
The tenants’ lawsuit claims they paid $1,200 per month to rent a room in the 7,000 sq ft building on Sunset Boulevard. Water damage on the walls is seen in this photo
Kantrowitz told the site his mission was ‘to facilitate health and wellness for as many people as possible,’ and ‘share ancient learning.’
‘The concept of the BE Hive was inspired by a place in San Francisco called the SafeHouse that was started by my friend Matt Wiggins. Tamara and I had stayed there one night and we decided then and there that LA needed a place like it. So we decided to make it happen,’ he said.
The tenants’ lawsuit claims they paid $1,200 per month to rent a room in the 7,000 sq ft building on Sunset Boulevard.
The documents said that from March 2019 through January 2021 Kantrowitz and his company received at least $30,543.85 from them, but ‘did not take any measures to perform needed maintenance to keep the Rental Unit in a substantially habitable condition during any month of the tenancy.’
Kantrowitz’s lawyers responded to the tenants with their own legal filings claiming the lawsuit was ‘littered with inaccuracies and misrepresentations’, that they were ‘Airbnb guests who have overstayed their time at a commercial hotel’, and that the building ‘has been legally permitted as a hotel or lodging/rooming house since 1914.’
However, the City of Los Angeles hit the property with a Notice of Code Violation on February 16, saying that ‘the property in fact is in violation’ of seven regulations.
The City of Los Angeles hit the property with a Notice of Code Violation on February 16, saying that ‘the property in fact is in violation’ of seven regulations.
The tenants’ lawsuit claims they paid $1,200 per month to rent a room in the 7,000 sq ft building on Sunset Boulevard
An order to comply was seen at the property and included in the court filing. ‘Stop all T.I. work. Obtain all required permits and inspection approvals,’ it reads
Kantrowitz’s lawyer, Ellia Thompson, said his AirBnB business was legal, and that he offered to pay his tenants to relocate but that they sued him to extract more cash.
‘Several Airbnb guests overstayed their 30 days becoming long-term guests, although since much of this occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr. Kantrowitz did not want to force them to look for new lodgings,’ Thompson, of the firm Ervin Cohen & Jessup, told DailyMail.com.
‘Knowing his lease for the space was coming to an end, my client offered compensation to the few remaining guests to help find new lodging, yet these two guests preferred to file a lawsuit hoping to cause financial hardship so they can get a windfall.
‘When my client’s lease expired at the end of 2020, the landlord took possession of his property and Mr. Kantrowitz no longer has any oversight or authority over the space.’
BE Hive was meant to have ‘sacred sexuality’ sessions, teaching couples to use sex to access ‘the mysterious, loving, magical depths of the universe
Kantrowitz is married to actress Mickey Sumner, 37, who has starred in movies including Frances Ha, Low Winter Sun and Snowpiercer, and is the eldest daughter of musician Sting, whose real name is Gordon Sumner
The couple are pictured with their child dressing up in Star Wars costumes
The notice accuses the owners of ‘unapproved occupancy’ and that the building is ‘being used as a hostel/hotel’.
The damning notice demands fixes for ‘inadequate maintenance,’ ‘lack of adequate heating’, ‘deteriorated or defective flooring’, ‘inadequate fire protection’, ‘hazardous electrical wiring’ and ‘missing or damaged plumbing sanitation fixtures.’
Kantrowitz is married to actress Mickey Sumner, 37, who has starred in movies including Frances Ha, Low Winter Sun and Snowpiercer, and is the eldest daughter of musician Sting, whose real name is Gordon Sumner.
She is not named in the lawsuit.
Kantrowitz is a serial entrepreneur, the founder of online gaming technology company 3D Groove, and Frank the Plumber, a concert design firm that has worked with artists including The Strokes, Akon, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Katy Perry and John Legend. His latest venture, Gobbler, sells software for the music industry.
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