Monday, May 19, 2025
The men of American Legion Robert H. Spittel Post 1285 have met at their headquarters, at 45 Bayville Ave., to hold ceremonies and honor the memories of their fallen members and veterans from the community since 1961. Now, a legal battle to evict them from the historic property, built by the legion’s original members, has left the veterans feeling betrayed, harassed and, potentially, without a post.
The court case began after the legion received an eviction notice last August from 45 Bayville Ave LLC, the entity that holds a 30-year mortgage on the property. It is unclear who the owners of the company are, because its lawyer, Michael Markowitz, and manager, Michael Gjoni, both refused to name the owners when asked by the Herald.
The legion, which has 83 members, asserts that Gjoni is the real operator of the LLC, because he leased the property from the group as the owner of Soundview Caterers from 2014 to 2017. When they were looking to sell the property, the members claim, they gave Gjoni right of first refusal, and he accepted and purchased the building, with the condition that the post would have the right to continue using its meeting room.
“In the lease, there was an option to be the first refusal if we ever decided to sell the building,” said Richard Bathie, second vice commander of the post. “When that time came, when the legion made a decision that we were going to sell the building, he was given the right of first refusal, and he opted to purchase the building.”
The property was bought not by Gjoni, however, but by 45 Bayville Ave LLC, which was created in June 2016, according to the New York Department of State’s Division of Corporations.
Members of the post assert that they have never interacted with anyone on behalf of the LLC besides Gjoni and Markowitz.
Since the legion sold the property in 2017, the relationship between the members and Gjoni has been largely cordial. But tensions escalated last May, when, legion members claim, Gjoni approached the organization with a proposal to take over the space in order to build a bridal suite for his catering business.
“He said that the reason was the newer generation of the brides would like a room for themselves to get dressed in and everything,” Joe Hili, the legion’s chaplain, said. Rather than build an addition, the legion members claim that Gjoni’s real goal was to take over their meeting room, which in the initial sale was expressly set aside for their exclusive use. “He had a bright idea,” Hili added. “Get rid of us and take our space.”
When the legion rejected the proposal, Gjoni presented other options, including taking over a potion of their meeting space for his office. Those offers were also declined.
“The membership, to a man, denied his request,” Bathie recounted. “There’d been problems when he had events, which would be two-, three-weekend affairs. He would come down and put his items that he had to remove from his room into our room.”
James Cammarata, the legion’s attorney, emphasized that the agreement it signed when it sold the building legally granted the organization the right to remain in its space.
“My clients sold the property under the condition that they would retain their meeting space as long as they continued to be an active post,” Cammarata said.
He also noted that Gjoni secured a highly favorable financial arrangement in the sale, including a 30-year mortgage at 3.5 percent interest, with no down payment required.
“In return, my clients kept their memorial outside and their meeting space inside,” Cammarata said. “That was the deal.”
But 45 Bayville Ave LLC, is now arguing that the legion no longer has a right to the space. Markowitz claimed that it has violated its tenant license by failing to pay its insurance and improperly storing flammable material.
Cammarata described both claims as “total nonsense,” and pushed back against the claims that Gjoni’s catering company has no role in the eviction proceedings.
“The petitioner trying to throw my client out is 45 Bayville Ave LLC, and the principal of that company is Michael Gjoni,” Cammarata said. “It’s disingenuous for him to claim Soundview Caterers isn’t involved.”
The litigation is currently ongoing, with the next hearing scheduled for May 5 at the Nassau County District Court. Regardless of how the dispute ends, legion members say that their meeting place will never be quite the same.
“Win or lose, we’ll never be happy in the place again,” post member Anthony Congero said. “It’s going to be something that we love, but we’re not going to be able to walk in with a smile.”
