Advertising heir Ted Owen, a pioneer of video gaming who wants to make so-called e-sports an Olympic sport, is being evicted from his Soho loft after a 10-month legal battle with his 67-year-old landlady.
A city marshal posted a warrant of eviction on his door last week giving him 72 hours to vacate the Lafayette Street building before the marshal puts his stuff in storage and changes the locks.
Owen, 51, claims he can’t move out because his loft is on the third floor and the elevator is being repaired.
“Any moving company in the city can move an apartment without an elevator,” his landlord Bonnie Rychlak told me. “He is gaming the situation as he has several times in the last year.”
Owen’s lawyer Steven Czik admits, “There might be a few months rent owed.” But Czik said, “He’s trying to move. As soon as the elevator is fixed, he’ll be out.”
Owen, a grandson of legendary ad man Ted Bates and nephew of Howard B. Johnson of the restaurant chain, tells people that Bret Easton Ellis based his Patrick Bateman “American Psycho” character on him.
Besides the months of back rent Owen owes, Rychlak says he regularly brings large groups of revelers home from nightclubs at closing time, waking up her and other neighbors.
Rychlak, who installed a security camera in the hallway, has a photo of Owen looking into the lens and giving her the finger. “He told me several times, ‘I’m going to bankrupt you, and it’s going to be fun.’ ” When asked about that, Owen didn’t respond.