City sues owners of historic West Side apartment complex

The city has filed a lawsuit against the owners of the Windermere, a vacant, landmarked seven-story residential complex at West 57th Street and Ninth Avenue, seeking fines of $5,000 per day until the building is repaired. The lawsuit against Toa Construction, based in Tokyo, Japan, claims that the owners must repair the 127-year-old building in order to make it safe for tenants and to preserve it. The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building – one of the city’s oldest remaining large apartment houses– a landmark in 2005. The New York City Fire Department ordered the complex’s last remaining tenants out in September after determining that living conditions were unsafe. TRD