Library won’t have to pay monthly $15K condo fee to renovate building, judge rules

Condominium owners on Fifth Avenue can no longer hold the New York Public Library hostage, a judge has ruled.

Judge Arlene Bluth released a decision Thursday saying that the Mid-Manhattan Public Library can move forward with a $200 million overhaul of the building without acquiescing to a condo board’s demand for a $15,000 per month fee to access the property, according to the New York Post. The fees could have totaled up to $450,000.

Bluth denied a request from the condo board to restrict construction hours as well.

The board at 445 Fifth Avenue was trying to make the library pay them the fee in exchange for letting them put up scaffolding, and while the library offered board members $3,500 per month instead, members would not accept the lower number. [NYP] – Eddie Small