We were introduced to the bougie event venue, The Brownstone when Caroline and Albert Manzo and their family made their Real Housewives of New Jersey debut in Season 1. Al and other Manzo family members own and run the storied wedding and party hall.
Lots of nostalgic on-screen drama unfolded at The Brownstone back in the day, whether it was a Giudice family christening party or a Posche fashion show being held there.
However, The Brownstone is currently embroiled in a bit of its own chaos. It involves some possible animosity between the venue, a Paterson, NJ city councilman, and a large sum of unpaid property taxes.
The Brownstone’s owners are estimated to be around $137k behind on the property taxes for their parking lot
According to NorthJersey.com, municipal officials claim that The Brownstone’s owners are 15 months behind on property tax payments for a small parcel of land one of their parking lots sits on. The arrears total $136,969. The Brownstone venue property itself is up-to-date on taxes.
The situation was brought to light by city councilman Luis Velez. He conducted some research on the banquet hall’s property tax history after he paid a delinquent bill for his August 2023 wedding, which was held there.
Albert said “sour grapes” is the reason Luis decided to open the lid on The Brownstone’s parking lot tax woes. Al opened theft-of-services charges against Luis Velez in municipal court for the unpaid wedding tab.
“It’s because he got a black eye when he didn’t pay his bill,” Albert added.
The Brownstone appealed and had their payments reduced, but still fell behind
Councilman Velez denied contacting a reporter about the taxes in retaliation.
He reasoned, “The facts are the facts. Nobody is above the law. I’m just disappointed that he got a break and still hasn’t come through.”
That break involved the valuation of the parcel being reduced from $2.5 million to $1.5 million when A.M. Manzo LLC filed a tax appeal. The appeal was granted, and in turn, the property taxes were lowered. During litigation, landowners aren’t usually required to pay property taxes. Even though the valuation of the parking lot decreased, the town council says that the business still accrued $658,368 during the appeal process.
In the settlement, The Brownstone agreed to pay $13,605 per month to cover the back taxes. The Paterson tax office says that the business made two large payments in May 2023 totaling $80,616. However, no payments have been made since. In the 16 months since the payment plan was agreed upon, $217,685 should’ve been paid by now.
Albert says that he doesn’t handle the venue’s taxes. When reporters asked to be referred to the person who handles them, Al declined. The Brownstone has had some recent financial hardships. A minor fire broke out last year, and Al says they’re still recovering from COVID shutdowns.
“The fact that The Brownstone is still standing after COVID is nothing short of a miracle. The Brownstone was closed by the government. Did our tax bills stop coming? No, they did not.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey streams on Peacock.
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