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New York

In-limbo hardship application tough on UES building’s tenants

Claim property has gone neglected while Landmarks Preservation Commission mulls ruling

From left: 429 And 430 East 64th Street
From left: 429 And 430 East 64th Street

Tenants of a landmarked apartment building on the Upper East Side are complaining of neglect as the owner pursues permission to demolish a pair of buildings and redevelop the site.

Owner Stahl Real Estate filed a hardship application with the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission in October 2010, claiming the two buildings at 429 East 64th StreetAnd 430 East 65th Street could no longer turn a profit. Tenants fought the application and told DNAinfo that the properties have continually deteriorated under worsening neglect.

Three years later, the LPC has yet to render a decision, leaving both sides in limbo. Since the application was filed, tenants say heat and hot water have been unreliable, and that leaks, mice and shoddy maintenance have become major problems — issues they link to the buildings’ high number of vacancies.

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“They don’t do anything,” Elizabeth Pearce, who has lived in the 65th Street building for 31 years, told DNAinfo. “They don’t even clean the halls anymore. They used to mop the floors every Friday, but even that has stopped.”

When the application was filed in 2010, 97 of the 190 units were vacant. Since then, several more have opened up, tenants told DNAinfo.

The LPC held its first hearing on the building in January 2012, but sources told DNAinfo that the issue has since stalled because Stahl did not respond to questions that arose at the meeting until October of that year, according to records cited by DNAinfo.

Stahl did not respond to DNainfo’s requests for comment, and the LPC decline to comment on the application. [DNAinfo] — Julie Strickland

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Landmarks Preservation Commission