LEAF IT ALONE

Strokes Bassist and Realtor in Legal Battle Over NYC Garden

An attorney for the Strokes’ bassist said Toby Dodd’s claim over the secret garden is “at best, questionable.”

Strokes rock star Nikolai Fraiture and a real estate executive can’t seem to agree on who owns the secret garden behind their New York City apartments. Toby Dodd and his wife Julie de Pontbriand filed a lawsuit against the bassist last week alleging “the Fraitures launched a still-ongoing scheme to force the Dodds out of 44 King and take the Garden for themselves.” The Dodds claim they have “exclusive rights” over the 45-by-40 foot yard, which the filings describe as the “real value” of the property as a hard-to-come-by feature in Manhattan. In 2017, the couple purchased a $3.3 million Soho home at 42 King St., later getting their hands on the garden next door and a $300,000 ground-floor unit at 44 King St. Two years later, the Strokes couple moved into their own 44 King St. ground-floor apartment with a basement. The legal battle then began in 2021, when the Fraitures sued the Dodds for allegedly illegally combining their two units. An attorney for the musician told the New York Post that the other family’s claim over the garden is “at best, questionable,” but the Dodds insist the Fraitures have created “an unsettling, tension filled environment for all.”