City officials say the homeowner wouldn’t realize it was time to fix the building if parts of it literally fell out of the sky.
The owner of a Hell’s Kitchen building that’s on New York City’s list of “worst” landlords was sued by the city this week after the owner allegedly allowed a crumbling facade and “hazardous conditions,” including falling debris and long-abandoned sidewalk sheds, to continue for more than a decade.
The city Building Department said Mark Torres, owner of the long-neglected Windermere Building, should address hundreds of code violations about the unsafe facade and years of ignoring citations to fix dangers at the historic building since he bought it in 2009.
The sidewalk shed, a temporary sidewalk green feature installed during construction, was meant to be a “permanent” addition to the building, but the pipes and plywood deteriorated in the process, according to the DOB.
Windermere consists of properties at 400-406 West 57th Street and 869 Ninth Avenue, and has been vacant since 2008, according to the city.
Torres was ranked 32nd. Landlord Watchlist 2023That’s according to a tally compiled by public interest attorney Jumaane D. Williams based on the average number of outstanding violations at the Housing Preservation Department: Windermere and 4683 Park Avenue have a combined total of a staggering 759 outstanding violations.
Violations at the Windermere, a historic Queen Anne-style building that housed Manhattan’s first “Carrie Bradshaw” in the late 1800s, range from fire hazards and faulty fire escapes to damaged floors and complaints about hot water. The hotel’s last tenants moved out in 2008, but hundreds of violations remain, according to the DOB.
Philip Dalgarno, 30, a bankruptcy lawyer and local resident, told The Washington Post that the building’s scaffolding has been an eyesore and a blot on the neighborhood for more than a decade.
“This whole block is underdeveloped. The commercial property on the other side of 9th Avenue, closer to 56th Street, [Street] “It’s been vacant for over a year since I moved in almost two years ago,” Delgano said.
“We had people sleeping under scaffolding. It was just a bit of a drag on the liveability of the neighborhood. I think it’s good that there will be more policing.”
A 64-year-old financial analyst who gave his name as Russell and has lived next door for 16 years was also dismayed to see the building fall into disrepair.
Longtime residents said the building’s aesthetics have been improved in recent years, but spoke of construction work planned to renovate the historic building. Office and residential complex Hotels with rooftop restaurants are irregular and sporadic.
“They’ll be working for a while, and then you won’t see anything,” Russell told The Post outside his building after returning from a jog Monday evening. “They’ll be working for a while, and then you won’t see anything for a few weeks or months.”
The City Council’s Land Use Committee voted in 2021 to grant a special permit to allow the conversion. TThe Real Deal reportedThe full council approved the plan later that year.
Torres also agreed to allocate 20 affordable rental units in the building as part of an agreement with the city after the previous landlord harassed rent-controlled residents, according to the outlet.
Windermere Properties LLC pleaded guilty to failing to maintain the building in a criminal case in 2022, but “the sidewalk shed remains in place and the facade has not been repaired,” despite multiple repair orders issued by the city since then, the DOB said.
The city is requiring the owner to correct all code violations and “public nuisances” at the property and is seeking a permanent injunction against future code violations.
Officials added that homeowners could face civil penalties of $1,000 per day per structure for violations, plus thousands of dollars more in fines if they fail to submit inspection reports or continue to erect sheds on sidewalks without actually making repairs.
The lawsuit is the latest brought against negligent landlords during the Mayor’s “Get Sheds Down” programme, an overhaul of rules on sidewalk sheds introduced in 2023. The plan aims to swiftly remove “ugly green boxes”, redesign sheds that are in use and reprimand property owners who use them as a stop-gap on sidewalks.
but, City Records There are currently about 9,000 sidewalk sheds in operation across the five boroughs (average number of days in operation: 490), a number that has remained virtually constant since the program began.
Mayor Eric Adams, in his programme to be announced for 2023, came down heavily on landlords who are improperly using sidewalk sheds, describing them as the main culprits as they block sunlight, draw customers away from businesses and act as a “magnet” for illegal activities.
“The Windermere should be considered an architectural treasure of our city, but unfortunately the owners have allowed the building to fall into severe disrepair and have left it obscured by sidewalk sheds and fencing for many years,” New York City Building Commissioner Jimmy Oddo said of the dilapidated building.
“Property owners need to understand that we will no longer tolerate them putting off repairs to important buildings and allowing sheds to sit on sidewalks for years, diminishing the livability of our city.”
