A&E Real Estate agreed to pay $2.1 million to settle thousands of violations across 14 buildings.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the settlement agreement on Friday at one of A&E’s buildings at 35-64 84th Street in Jackson Heights.
As part of its agreement with the city, Douglas Eisenberg’s A&E must correct more than 4,000 building code violations across 14 properties, mostly in Queens. The firm will pay $150,000 per building. That amount goes up if the landlord fails to make the payment or harasses any tenants.
“For years, A&E has operated with callous disregard for those residing in its properties,” Mamdani told reporters. “This is not just a failure to serve those to whom it holds an obligation. It is overt cruelty to tens of thousands of New Yorkers.”
The settlement stems from complaints filed by the Adams administration last year. According to court documents, the agreement between A&E and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development was signed on Dec. 31, on the final day of the previous administration. A state Housing Court judge signed off on the agreement this week.
A spokesperson for A&E indicated that the firm inherited violations at its properties and has made it its “mission to collaborate with the City to improve this building and others that were in deep disrepair when we took ownership.”
“In every building we’ve purchased, we’ve invested in replacing boilers, rehabbing elevators and fixing tens of thousands of longstanding violations,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We are pleased to have settled all legal issues with the city and have agreed upon a repair plan with the housing department that we are already delivering on.”
The landlord has between 14 and 90 days to correct outstanding violations, depending on their severity.
The announcement of the settlement came around the time that a court confirmed Summit Properties as the buyer of more than 5,000 rent-stabilized units from Pinnacle Group on Friday, after the Mamdani administration unsuccessfully tried to stop the sale.
The mayor said that the settlement is the largest in the history of HPD’s Anti-Harassment Unit, formed in 2019. The unit, however, has won larger judgments against landlords.
Meanwhile, elected officials and tenant advocates plan to rally at another A&E property over a cooking gas shutdown at the property. The mayor indicated on Friday that he is “aware of issues across the entirety of A&E’s portfolio,” adding that the administration will continue to monitor their conduct.
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