A D.C. landlord is suing model Tyra Banks and her partner for $2.8 million, accusing them of backing out of a 10-year lease for her ice cream shop in D.C., according to court documents.
Banks’ ice cream company Smize and Dream started as a mobile ice cream outlet in Dubai and a pre-packaged shop in Los Angeles, California. D.C. was the company’s first pop-up shop and New York will be next to get a pop-up.
According to lawsuit documents, Christopher Powell, a D.C. landlord in Eastern Market, met with Banks and her business partner Louis Martin in March of 2024 to open the shop in his building. On April 17, 2024, Martin signed a 10-year commercial lease, according to Powell’s lawsuit.
Powell says in the complaint that during June of 2024, the pair abandoned the building and refused to pay rent with no explanation. By this point, Powell said he undertook “extensive financial investment” and put in months of planning the opening while rejecting other people’s applications to be tenants.
A few weeks after, Powell said he struggled to deal with the “legal and financial fallout from their abandonment.” Then, he says he saw former Vice President Kamala Harris eating ice cream on the news at a Smize and Dream pop-up shop a few miles away in Woodley Park.
The pop-up shop opened in July of 2024. Banks said her mother inspired her to open an ice cream shop. At the time of the opening, Banks said her brother, who lived in D.C for 28 years while serving in the military, inspired her to put a shop in the District.
In June of this year, Banks opened a flagship Smize and Dream shop in Sydney, Australia.
According to the lawsuit, Powell said Banks and Martin sent a letter to him in Sept. 2024, saying they broke their lease because they were promised the whole building, not just part of it. Powell states in the court documents that he said only two retail spaces and two office spaces were available for rent on the bottom three floors.
Banks and Martin filed a motion to dismiss in November, according to court documents. Court documents say Banks and Martin sent a formal notice of terminating the lease on Sept. 9, 2024. The building had “myriad mechanical, electrical, and plumbing deficiencies” and were not in “good working order,” according to the court documents.
Banks and Martin say Powell didn’t respond to the notice until he sued in August of this year, according to the motion.
On Aug. 20, of this year, Powell demanded immediate payment, according to the lawsuit. Martin and Banks sent back a letter denying any wrongdoing. In October, Powell filed a $2.8 million lawsuit against School of Smize LLC, Banks and Martin in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Powell’s lawyer, Arziki Adamu, must respond to the motion by Dec. 30.
News4 reached out to Smize and Dream and Powell’s lawyers for comment. Adamu said they have no additional comment at this time. Smize and Dream’s lawyer, Steven Jay Willner, has not responded yet.
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