By JESSICA FIRGER
A group of Occupy Wall Street protesters were evicted Monday from a Lower Manhattan space that had served as an informal headquarters and a crash pad for the movement's stalwart supporters.
A late-day request to stay the eviction was denied by a judge, leaving the group without a central location to plan several coming events, including what they hoped would be a galvanizing May Day march that is being coordinated with labor unions.
Protesters moved into the space in late October, a few weeks before New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered police to clear out the group's Zuccotti Park encampment. The loft space at 40 Exchange Place is located a few blocks away from the park that served as the heart of the anti-corporate movement until the Nov. 15 raid.
Occupy didn't have a lease for the Exchange Place loft but had been using the space—dubbed the "Magic Mountain"—at the behest of the original tenant, George Weathers.
Mr. Weathers said last April he took over the fifth-floor loft for his business, Artists Seminar Plus, which offered education for actors. When he could no longer afford the space, he began to rent it out for meetings and events. He said he stopped paying his monthly $6,200 rent in August. He received a letter from the building management's attorney the following month, then was sent subsequent letters throughout the winter.
He soon connected with a member of Occupy Wall Street and discovered that some protesters needed a place to sleep and work. "I was sympathetic to their cause," said Mr. Weathers. He added that he appeared in court alone in February and that he was permitted to stay.
Since an eviction can take months to process, the first court notice wasn't delivered until the end of March. Since then, Mr. Weathers and members of Occupy Wall Street have staved off the eviction three times.
Lately, the loft also has served as a refuge for protesters who have been sleeping each night on Wall Street. About a dozen people were at the loft when a city marshal arrived about 1 p.m. to enforce the eviction.
Philip Katz, an attorney for the management at 40 Exchange Place, said he was surprised to hear members of Occupy Wall Street were living in the space. The eviction was motivated not just by the nonpayment of rent but by complaints from other tenants of raucous parties and unsavory behavior, he said.
"We could not permit these parties. Underage people were actually physically attacked," he said. "No papers submitted to the court indicated that Occupy Wall Street was staying there. I'm very surprised to hear that."
He said that the individuals who appeared in court along with Mr. Weathers didn't identify themselves as members of Occupy Wall Street, but rather part of Artists Seminar Plus.
"To me, it's not a case of individual rights," Mr. Katz said. "It's a case of a tenant not leaving."
Members of Occupy Wall Street complained they weren't given sufficient notice they were being kicked out. Liesbeth Rapp, 27 years old, said she and other protesters, who had been representing themselves, believed the eviction to be illegal. An attorney who had been advising them said each individual occupying the space needed to be served a separate eviction notice.
"The city marshal said this has been going on forever,'" Ms. Rapp said. "We have been denied due process. They know we've been here for six months."
A judge rejected their request Monday afternoon afternoon for a stay of the eviction. The group plans to return to court on Thursday to argue that the papers were served improperly. Mr. Katz said the tenant had been issued eviction notices since December.
Housing attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, who isn't connected to the case, said the group likely won't be permitted to return to the space. "They would need to seek a stay," said Mr. Bailey, who specializes in landlord-tenant disputes. "But the eviction has already happened, and the judge declined it. It looks like it's over."
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