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A posh wine storage company is under investigation by the New York State Liquor Authority as a growing number of customers fear that the business has lost, stolen or otherwise mishandled their booze, The Post has learned. Wedding Wine Box
As The Post first reported, Chelsea Wine Storage has sparked concerns after quietly moving clients’ collections from a sleek locker facility in Chelsea Market to the unfinished basement of a shuttered TGI Friday’s off Times Square.
Now the business — whose owners also operate the swanky Chelsea Wine Co. retail shop at 60 Ninth Ave., as well as a trendy lounge below the store — is the subject of “an active investigation,” SLA spokesperson Patrick Garrett confirmed, declining to disclose further details about the probe.
Clients have grown increasingly concerned in recent weeks as the owners, Michael and Amelia Gancarz, have failed to respond to calls and emails.
Some fear the worst following the high-profile implosion of Sherry-Lehmann, the venerable Manhattan wine store that hasn’t returned hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of expensive wine belonging to the retailer’s storage customers and which is being investigated by the FBI.
The company is being sued by several businesses, including a wine brokerage firm called Grand Cru that claims in its lawsuit it purchased $349,000 worth of Burgundy in May and never received it.
The Gancarzes refunded Grand Cru $165,000, saying they never had possession of the pricey wine, but the complaint alleges they still owe $184,000 plus 12% interest.
The Gancarzes did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
One former customer of 25 years, wine importer Lyle Fass, said he knew something wasn’t right when he submitted a request in early October to have three cases of wine delivered to him from storage and didn’t hear back.
Fass said he went to Chelsea Market to investigate and learned for the first time that the storage facility had been relocated.
Several days later, CWS sent Fass an email explaining that it had “paused operations” at the storage facility due to “internal staffing delays.” Fass said it took three weeks to get his wine — and only after he tapped a wine storage provider called Domaine to help him.
“We have heard from and provided solutions to many CWS clients and will continue to help them and others navigate through a difficult situation,” David Adolf of Domaine Storage told The Post in a statement.
Some customers and wine storage companies said they were instructed to go to the former TGI Friday’s basement at 777 Seventh Ave. only to find that no one was there. When they called CWS, they said they were told to pick up their wine at the store in Chelsea instead.
“I am a client of Chelsea Wine Storage and it has been nothing but problems after mysteriously moving our wine with no notice,” one angry customer told The Post in an email. “As of Friday, our accounts were still accessible online to view and amend. Over the weekend, the server is ‘not responding.'”
The wine is stored in cardboard boxes stacked on top of wooden pallets in the basement at 777 Seventh Ave, according to photos shared with The Post by a source who had been in the space.
“It looks like a hoarding situation,” Fass said of the photos.
Meanwhile, CWS sent an email to customers over the weekend to reassure them.
“We wanted to write a quick note to assure everyone that your wine collections are being stored properly and our facility is being correctly maintained,” according to the email. “Although we are experiencing some staffing issues at the moment, we will do our best to respond to your inquiries and requests in a timely fashion.”
CWS also claimed in the email that it has “been having problems with our landlord, Delshah Capital, for over a year now and he owes us over $1mil in reimbursement funds and is causing a lot of issues.”
Delshah Capital, the real estate company is the landlord at both Seventh Ave and Ninth Ave., denied the allegation and meanwhile has filed a complaint over non-payment of rent. The complaints over unpaid rent “are being dealt with between the attorney(s)” the Gancarzes attorney Louis Chisari told The Post last week.
Chelsea Wine Storage’s lease entitled the company to $1.5 million in reimbursements – but only under certain conditions, including paying its rent in full and investing in the space, Michael Sha, head of Delshah Capital told The Post.
“They have not followed the terms of their lease, regarding insurance, HVAC and various other covenants, including paying the rent,” Michael Shah of Delshah Capital told The Post.
Wine Case Box “The $1.5 million was meant to reimburse them for the buildout of a first class wine storage facility,” Shah added. “They didn’t build anything, so their claim is a joke and another narcissistic attempt to blame someone else for their own faults.”