It’s a house of worship — but not everyone is acting holy inside.
The owner of an East Village rental building is suing the Christian Pentecostal church at its base for leasing space to a “barbershop, bar and nightclub,” according to a new lawsuit.
The condo board of managers at 183-189 Ave. B — divided into a 40-unit, seven-story rental building, Hub Avenue B, and a ground-floor bilingual church, Elim House of Worship — alleges the nonprofit religious organization violated its agreement by failing to inform the board about the tenant, and bringing in a non-church-related entity that hosted “unruly crowds and outrageous, drunken behavior,” per the Manhattan Supreme Court complaint.
Despite complaints, the behavior continues, the suit claims.
The church space is only lawfully permitted to house “a religious facility with ancillary religious, charitable or community purposes,” court documents indicate.
“It appears that during the day, instead of devoting the Church Unit to religious activities, Tenants operate a commercial barber shop,” according to the suit. “Then, during the after-hours, the Church Unit becomes a ‘club’, where hordes of people converge to consume alcohol and listen to loud music.”
In September, Elim Pastor Carlos Torres sued the tenant, Real LES LLC.
“I had to sue them to get them out of there because they were not paying rent,” Torres told The Post, claiming that he gave them a one-year lease but they surreptitiously “changed it to five years.”
Real LES LLC, run by Joquin Lugo and Cristina Montanez, signed paperwork that they would hand back the keys by noon on Tuesday in exchange for a $15,000 payout, per Torres, who runs the church with his wife, Pastor Kristine Torres. As of 3 p.m. they hadn’t yet handed them over, according to Torres.
Montanez “was so nice and so respectful until we got into this legal battle and then she takes out her nails and became a very nasty person,” Torres said.
Montanez didn’t return a call for comment.
The Torreses own the 15,000 square feet that house church operations, representing 25% of the property, Torres said. Hub Realty owns the other 75%, or the 66,000 square feet of residential space.
Real LES LLC signed a lease in October 2024 to occupy Elim’s 600-square-foot offices on the ground floor at 183-189 Ave. B for a monthly rent of $3,000, Torres said, which was “just a donation for the church.”
“I rented to some people in the church who visited it to have a hub so people could receive packages,” Torres said. “That was the first understanding we had. They were going to make a barbershop and we were going to serve homeless people as the ministry of the church.”
Instead, “they’ve been doing parties and smoking weed [there] without my permission,” he said.
Torres said he understood that the board, led by president Jared Lustbader, had to file a lawsuit against the church and the tenants.
“He did what he had to do,” Torres said. “I have to defend myself. The truth is I did not rent that to be a party, but with the best intention to do a ministry.”
Lustbader and his attorneys didn’t respond to requests for comment.
