By Eliza Newman
With temperatures starting to drop, tenants of 243 West 75th Street on the Upper West Side are up in arms about the spotty heat and hot water in their building.
There’s been a pattern in recent weeks at the prewar building: the heat and hot water are off, the building management is contacted and apologizes, the boiler is fixed for two or three days, the boiler breaks again, rinse and repeat.
One resident, who asked to remain anonymous, reported that since their move to the building in September, the heat has been off 17 times in six weeks. “It is infuriating. The boiler once went three and a half days without being fixed,” the person explained. After conferring with tenants who have been in the building longer, it was revealed that the same thing happened last year during the record-breaking bitter months of winter.
Some residents have resorted to showering at their gyms, while others are making plans to move out.
According to the City Housing Maintenance Code and State Multiple Dwelling Law, building owners are required to provide heat and hot water to all tenants. The law states that “Building owners are required to provide hot water 365 days per year.” October 1 through May 31 are referred to as “Heat Season” when heat is mandated during that period.
Regardless of the complaints, building management still has not adequately rectified the problem or arranged to have an on-site superintendent, one resident said. The building is managed by Idy Gross of MCS Properties, LLC, who declined to comment. Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal’s office also did not get back to us to comment for this story.
The three-floor cooperative was erected in 1920. The building has also recently received a code violation notice relating to cracks in the façade. The Buildings Department says the complaint has been resolved.
And don’t hold your breath for Helen Rosenthal’s office to get back to you… she and her staff rarely do, and when they do, you won’t remember why you called. This never, ever happened when Gale Brewer was our city council member. What a difference.
If this is a coop, the tenants own the building and should be deciding about fixing the boiler and running the building.
It’s not a co-op. It’s a 4-story rental with rent-stabilized and market-rate tenants (paying below-rate for the area). A lot of the buildings on the block used to look like this one…back in the 1920s. They’ve either been demolished or refurbished. Not this one.
OH, the stories I have about that building. The floors are uneven. The bannisters for the stairways was always falling off. When a friend moved in, he arrived on move-in day only to find NO kitchen sink, no shower-head, NO stove, NO fridge, and NO hot water. It took management weeks. (And yes, I’ll go ahead and say this, even though I’ll be attacked on here: If not for my ability to speak Yiddish to the owner, I’m convinced they’d still be there with no heat, no water, etc.) An absolute shandah.
Now, for my own sob story: Two buildings to the left, 255, was notorious for the same violations. We had no heat or hot water for months. And nobody–Gale, Helen, etc.–did a thing to help us. There was no garbage cans at that point, and the garbage bags were thrown into a hallway off the lobby. That was a BRUSCO building.
Great location by the express train, the Beacon, and Fairway, but I’ll take my new apartment slightly north any day of the week.
Oh–one last nonsensical rant for the evening–go on hpd.gov BEFORE signing a lease. You can see how many violations exist for the building, and the nature of such violations.
same thing for my old apartment on W70th Street… damn you Walker Malloy.
Thanks, intrepid reporter, for shining the light on this heartless landlord. It’s cooooold outside and should be toasty inside.
Tenant here. 241-243 W. 75th are owned by the same person, group? Who knows. It is listed as a co-op; there are a few stabilized tenants; and yes most others are market-rate and believe me what I’m paying, while low for the area, is too much for the building. Mice, roaches, bugs of some unknown sort, windows that are porous, front door that is always broken, no real super (Brusco still listed but good luck getting him to do anything) and yes, the heat and hot water are off frequently. Management won’t spend the money to replace the boiler. They left both buildings with empty apartments for the past year and just rented all but one. New leases all have a 90 day notice clause for either side with no reason needed. I’m assuming they want to sell. These are tear downs, there isn’t enough money to fix all the problems. And I’m pretty sure the cracks haven’t been fixed but I was running late today and didn’t look.
The same is happening in my building at 255 west 75th street. The heat has been spotty but not overly problematic. The water pressure however has dipped significantly, at times making it difficult to even run through the showerhead (as opposed to running a bath).
Paula,
I don’t know if you saw my comment, but I mentioned our building (well, my old building now). I don’t know if you were there in 2009-10 when there was no heat or hot water for months. It was terrible.
Again, everyone: Go on HPD BEFORE signing a lease!
I thankfully was not there at the time. I am moving away in January and while I’m sad to be leaving the neighborhood, I am not at all broken up about leaving Brusco properties.