Forest Hills Neighbors Seek Concert-Stopping Injunction

The 2025 concert schedule at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium could be in danger if a group of homeowners gets their way.

As part of one of numerous ongoing lawsuits between neighbors and the venue’s owner, The West Side Tennis Club, attorneys for the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation filed a motion in a Queens County court this week asking a judge to enjoin the stadium from “licensing, authorizing, allowing or otherwise causing any concerts to occur” at the 101-year-old stadium in 2025.

The motion offers in the alternative that concerts at least be barred from occurring during the school year — which in New York City runs from the beginning of September through late June — and be limited to Fridays and Saturdays otherwise. The motion also asks for a requirement concerts follow the city’s noise ordinance.

Eleven of the 36 concerts held at the stadium in 2024 did not comply with the decibel limit set by the city. Noise complaints have hounded the stadium since its 2013 re-opening.

The stadium’s operators insist they are good neighbors with shows ending at or before 10 p.m.. Public streets are cleaned and swept prior to and after each show and the venue’s website encourages concertgoers to visit local restaurants and bars.

In a statement provided to the New York Post, The West Side Tennis Club’s attorney said the motion was frivolous.

“Forest Hills Gardens Corporation … is on a mission to kill this icon and end 101 years of tradition and cultural and economic contributions,” Akiva Shapiro of Gibson Dunn, the club’s counsel, told the newspaper. “In the 2024 season, the Stadium held 36 shows all of which ended at or before 10 p.m. … Those complaints all come from a militant few within the Gardens Corp. and their confederates with the goal of manufacturing violations now that the lion’s share of their legal arguments were thrown out of court. The violations are unadjudicated and we expect will be dismissed.”