Tyra Banks had big plans for the ice cream shop she was going to open in D.C.’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
Smize & Dream, a name that nodded to the celebrity supermodel’s trademark phrase for “smiling with your eyes,” would have its flagship U.S. location in the city before going international, records show. It would be a tribute to her mother, who listened to her talk about her dreams over ice cream as a child. And the store wouldn’t just sell scoops: it would also give underserved youth the opportunity to foster a sense of entrepreneurship.
Banks flung open the doors to the flagship shop this summer, soon going viral for a much-hyped, hard-to-describe culinary innovation she dubbed “Hot Ice Cream.”
Only Smize & Dream isn’t in Washington. It’s in Sydney.
The scrapped D.C. plan is now the subject of a nearly $3 million lawsuit against Banks, her partner Louis Martin and School of Smize, LLC, a company connected to the famous cover girl and star of America’s Next Top Model. Christopher Powell, owner of the Eastern Market property where the ice cream venture had signed a 10-year lease with rent starting at $20,000 per month, alleges that the pair and company unlawfully broke the contract.
“Although Mr. Powell made repeated good faith efforts to resolve this matter amicably, he is now left with deep financial loss and no choice but to file suit,” says the complaint filed in the fall in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
An attorney for Banks and Martin, Steven Jay Willner, did not respond to a request for comment Friday. In a motion to dismiss the suit, the pair blasted the case as “an opportunistic ploy by Plaintiff to extort money from Defendants” and accused Powell of attempting a “celebrity shakedown.” They also say the lease was not signed by Banks or Martin but rather by School of Smize LLC.
Powell is the one who broke the lease, the motion claims, alleging that Banks and Martin were supposed to be renting the entire building at 218 Seventh St. in Southeast Washington — including four floors and two residential units — and that it had mechanical, electrical and plumbing deficiencies that would’ve cost $980,000 to remedy. Powell rejects those accusations as false and irrelevant, noting that he told the pair from the beginning that the apartments were already rented.
The court records feature emotional backstories about both Banks and Powell, their dreams and their mothers. They go into Banks’ ice cream chats with her mom and vision of helping city kids, along with Powell’s memories of helping his mom sell jewelry at Eastern Market and hopes of serving his community through his property. The two met in March 2024 for a tour of the building, and the supermodel shared her ice cream vision with the young property owner. She told him she was proud to see a young Black man with his own building, said Arziki Adamu, an attorney for the 35-year-old landlord.
“Ms. Banks’s story and mission moved Mr. Powell,” the complaint states.
A lease was signed in April 2024 that took effect on May 1 of that year. Powell says in his complaint that Banks and Martin immediately took possession of the space, receiving deliveries and hosting meetings and site visits. He says he regularly communicated with their architects and designers about the build out plans and spent “thousands of dollars to meet Ms. Banks’s specifications.”
But then, in June 2024, their attorney sent a letter saying they had left the premises and were terminating the lease, his complaint claims. They offered Powell the $60,000 security deposit they had paid, the complaint says, but he refused and told them the lease remained in effect.
Weeks later, he was surprised to see news coverage of a Smize & Dream pop-up store in D.C.’s Woodley Park neighborhood. The shop, complete with a sign saying “no selfies unless you’re smizing,” and “pose in line like TyTy’s watching. Cuz she is,” drew a high-profile visitor in then-Vice President Kamala Harris. At the time, Banks’ team toldThe Washington Post that the D.C. location could become permanent if it was successful. Instead, it ultimately shuttered that fall.
Both sides agree that Banks and Martin, in a September 2024 letter, said they were terminating the lease. The letter cited deficiencies in the property and said they were supposed to be given the entire building. It was the first time those issues were raised, according to Powell, who alleges in his complaint that they were trying to fabricate a pretext for breaking the lease.
By August 2025, Powell and his lawyers were demanding immediate payment of the nearly $3 million he says they owed — an amount the ice cream shop labeled an “exorbitant ransom.” The lawsuit followed in October. Banks and Martin responded in November; Powell is required to submit a response to their motion to dismiss by Dec. 30.
Smize & Dream, meanwhile, has pivoted to Sydney, where Banks and Martin now live and are seeking permanent visas, according to court papers. Its “Hot Ice Cream” (also sometimes called “Hot Mama”) has been a hot, if somewhat baffling, commodity since it debuted earlier this year tobemused reviews. (Banks, attempting to describe her creation to the New York Times, went with this: “Like a cream-based soup. Like a soup in the winter that’s just like, ‘Oh, this just feels like Mama,’ kind of.”)
In the U.S., it appears to be available only at a pop-up in New York City, some 200 miles from Washington.
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