Rosario’s Dawson’s family has conducted a “systematic and malicious” campaign to deny a Manhattan couple a dirt-cheap apartment in the former East Village squat where the actress was raised, a lawsuit charges.
Jeffrey Underwood and Amanda Davila allege the actress’ parents, Isabel and Gregory Dawson, “conspired to, by hook and by crook, covertly acquire” their flat.
“The Dawsons have engaged in similar conduct over many years, ultimately manipulating the City of New York … and taking for themselves property and rights that the city and organizations have attempted to and intended to provide for others,” legal papers claim.
The East 13th Street squatter’s apartment building has become a battleground between the Dawson clan and other residents who accuse the family of bullying their way into taking over more units.
Rosario Dawson, who is said to be dating New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, a champion of affordable housing, moved into the dilapidated and abandoned building with her family in 1986. The “Rent” star once said the abode was “a place with a huge, gaping hole in the ground and plastic for windows.”
The family came and went over the years, relocating for a time to Texas. They held onto their fourth-floor apartment and managed to expand their holdings.
Isabel Dawson’s brother, Nicky Scott, moved into one unit and Rex Hughes, a family friend, installed himself in the basement.
Residents said Isabel Dawson, then living in a first-floor unit, jackhammered a hole in the floor in 2013, and installed a spiral staircase to create a duplex.
For some, it was a Dawson reign of terror.
One resident said Isabel Dawson pushed and shoved her numerous times.
“Isabel Dawson’s threatening and violent behavior have jeopardized the safety of the residents,” Alfa Diallo, then presidents of the Tenants’ Association, wrote in a 2001 letter as part of an effort to stop violence by the Dawsons.
Underwood, who owns a bicycle shop, and Davila moved in in December 2013, paying a $200 monthly maintenance fee, which was supposed to go to the tenant’s association.
The nonprofit Urban Homesteading Assistance Board or UHAB was set to start long-delayed renovations in late 2015, requiring the tenants to temporarily relocate.
The organization had acquired the property from the city in 2002 and was supposed to help turn it into affordable co-ops with the squatters getting first dibs on apartments. The city contributed $1.78 million for the rehab there and at another building.
Underwood and Davila contend in legal papers that Gregory Dawson assured them “There is a list of people who are going to get apartments, but don’t worry, you are first on the list.”
Underwood left a message with a UHAB program director in October 2015 and that was returned by Isabel Dawson who told him “the move out day is today. You have to leave,” legal papers say.
Gregory Dawson said if they didn’t move it would “mess up” UHAB’s deal.
After Underwood and Davila left, they allege the Dawsons and UHAB drew up a list of residents who were to get a chance to buy apartments in the 14-unit building and they weren’t on it.
The sale price for the squatters was $2,500. The price for outsiders, who face income restrictions, is $102,000 for a studio.
The Dawsons, who had then separated, were each to get their own apartment and there was one for their son, Clay, as well as Rex Hughes.
The couple also contends that the Dawsons and Scott kept the $3,000 monthly relocation payments that they were supposed to get.
Underwood and Davila declined to comment through their lawyer, J. Remy Green.
UHAB did not return a request for comment.
The lawsuit is seeking at least $250,000 in damages and an apartment in the building, which is now renovated.
Adam Leitman Bailey, a lawyer for the Dawsons, did not return a request for comment.