One year after a massive fire ripped through three Chinatown apartment buildings, the tenants displaced from the only one left standing still haven’t been able to return to their homes, and repairs on the structure have not even begun. The building, at 289 Grand Street, is now the centerpiece of a court battle between its owner, Kwok Koon Wong, and the individuals — mostly Chinese immigrants — who had lived in its 13 apartments prior to the deadly blaze. Wong’s attorney, Adam Leitman Bailey, has argued that repairs to the building would cost more than the property is worth, while John Gorman, who is representing nine of the tenants, has accused the landlord of inflating the costs of renovations in an attempt to squeeze out rent-regulated tenants and clear the way for construction of a luxury building on the site. [more]
Posts Tagged ‘housing court’
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The former tenants of 289 Grand Street, the sole structure left standing after a deadly, four-building Chinatown fire in April, are now locked in a court battle with their landlord over the fate of the building and are expected to appear in New York City Housing Court again this week, the Daily News reported. The landlord, Wong’s Grand Street Realty, wants to tear down the building, arguing that repairs would cost more than the property — on which the Department of Buildings issued a vacate order following the fire — is currently worth. Meanwhile, the 11 tenants, mostly Chinese immigrants who’ve been living in city shelters or in temporary housing for the past six months, filed a lawsuit in New York Housing Court in June to force Wong’s to make renovations. Late last month, they showed up at the shuttered site with a court order allowing them to fetch some of their belongings from the building. Their attorneys have accused the landlord of inflating the costs of renovations in an attempt to squeeze out rent-regulated tenants. [NYDN]
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Bronx landlord Sam Suzuki, who was hauled off to jail June 24 after failing to address hundreds of building violations at his 1585 East 172nd Street property, was denied a request for stay and will remain behind bars at the Manhattan Detention Complex, more commonly known as the Tombs. On June 30, the Bluestone Group, which renovates troubled buildings, bought the debt on the 49-unit property, which is said to have a rotting roof, caved-in floors and a rat infestation. Suzuki, who runs Hunter Property Management, gained control of the Bronx River building last year after Ocelot Capital failed in the wake of the real estate downturn. Repair work has begun, and Suzuki has promised to have his team work 10-hour days to fix the violations. He had asked to be released in order to “crack the whip.” [NYDN]
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After being booted a year ago from their building at 172 North 8th Street in Williamsburg — due to their landlord’s alleged illegal excavation work — tenants say that the Department of Buildings still won’t let them return home, according to the New York Times. Although residents were briefly allowed home three weeks ago, the DOB soon found that the building’s cellar walls had collapsed and ordered another evacuation. Tenants at the building are slated to meet with a housing court judge today, with plans to request someone new be put in charge of managing their dilapidated building. The building manager, Jamal Alokasheh, has denied wrongdoing at 172 North 8th Street. [NYT]
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After being booted a year ago from their building at 172 North 8th Street in Williamsburg — due to their landlord’s alleged illegal excavation work — tenants say that the Department of Buildings still won’t let them return home, according to the New York Times. Although residents were briefly allowed home three weeks ago, the DOB soon found that the building’s cellar walls had collapsed and ordered another evacuation. Tenants at the building are slated to meet with a housing court judge today, with plans to request someone new be put in charge of managing their dilapidated building. The building manager, Jamal Alokasheh, has denied wrongdoing at 172 North 8th Street. [NYT]
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Sam Suzuki, a Bronx landlord who allegedly failed to make court-ordered repairs to his building at 1585 East 172nd Street, has turned himself into court following the filing of a warrant for his arrest, according to the Village Voice. Although a Housing Court judge ruled in July 2009 that Suzuki had to make improvements on his 49-unit Soundview apartment building, which currently has 662 open violations, including for vermin, mold, lead paint and leaking ceilings, tenants allege that Suzuki has yet to make any renovations. After tenants at the building once again brought their case to court — and Suzuki’s attorney Kenneth Rosen quit — a housing court judge granted a warrant for the landlord’s arrest. No word yet on which specific charges Suzuki faces or what penalties he could face. [Village Voice]
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A housing court judge has issued a warrant for the arrest of an alleged Bronx slumlord who failed not only to correct the 663 open violations in one of his buildings, but also to show up in court, the New York Times reported. The landlord, Sam Suzuki, said he is just the manager of the 49-unit apartment building in question, at 1585 East 172nd Street, though property records suggest otherwise. It’s one of six buildings he picked up for $13.5 million in May 2009 from Ocelot Capital Group, the real estate investment group that notoriously abandoned 25 Bronx buildings, allowing them to fall into disrepair. At the time, Suzuki had already been managing 22 of those buildings through his company, Hunter Property Management. Tenants said conditions at the building only got worse after Suzuki took ownership. Conditions at his other five properties have also reportedly deteriorated. [NYT]
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Residents of the Whitehouse hotel were slated to go to housing court yet again today, according to a Curbed tipster. Longtime tenants are taking buyouts, and the remaining residents are heading to court, and, in what seems to be a regular occurrence, meeting with representatives from the Cooper Square Committee and Manhattan Legal Services. Hotel developer Sam Chang has been eyeing the decrepit building, which used to be known as the Bowery. [Curbed]
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A New York City Housing Court judge has ruled that a market-rate apartment at 37 Wall Street should be rent-stabilized because the owner has been receiving 421-g tax abatements from the city. The decision, reminiscent of last year’s Stuyvesant Town case, in which the state’s highest court ruled that landlord Tishman Speyer had illegally deregulated units while receiving J-51 tax abatements, could mean a return to rent-stabilization for thousands of Financial District apartments. Unlike the J-51 tax break, which was issued to developers throughout the city, the 421-g was given out exclusively to commercial landlords in Lower Manhattan for residential conversions. The landlord at 37 Wall Street, W Associates, had argued that because the rent was over $2,000, the building should be exempted from stabilization. “As the Court of Appeals concluded in Tishman Speyer, [the owner]
cannot take advantage of the luxury deregulation exclusion of the Rent
Stabilization Law while simultaneously receiving benefits under the
program,” Judge Bruce Scheckowitz wrote in his decision. According to the Downtown Express, there are at least 16 rental buildings below Murray Street currently receiving 421-g tax abatements, including 200 Water Street, 63 Wall Street ant 90 West Street. The decision sets a precedent for similar lawsuits from tenants in close to 5,000 units in those buildings. [Downtown Express] and [Crain's] -
More people are moving their businesses, including hair salons and
recording studios, into their homes to save money in a difficult
economy, according to tenants surveyed by the New York Times. Bringing
businesses into the home saves the proprietors business expenses, but
landlords often frown on home businesses, and those businesses can
violate city statutes, including plumbing regulations and occupancy
laws. Ten New York City Housing Court judges surveyed said they have
seen no noticeable uptick in evictions of cottage industries, but one
judge said landlords are probably ignoring them for now rather than
taking tenants to court, because the home businesses allow the tenants
to keep paying rent. [more]
